Not too long ago, everyone thought Madrid and Catalans were the best teams in European basketball. But nowadays, it's hard not to feel a bit disappointed. We think it's going to be a tragedy.

Real Madrid

Madrid has lost their last three matches and is currently not even in the play-in. They're in 11th place. To be fair, though, all of those losses were away games.

Real Madrid has had more or less success at home, with nine wins and four losses. On average, they're scoring 89.5 points per game and conceding 85.

Bookies are offering odds of 1.8 for Real to score more than 87.5. To see if these odds are good, let's check out their defense

Barcelona

First, the Catalans have won six out of 13 away games, which is almost half. On the road, they're giving up an average of 87 points per game, while scoring 85.5. A month ago, ASVEL somehow scored 100 points against Barça. Then, Baskonia scored 88 points, and most recently, in the first week of February, Olympiacos scored 90 points at the Blaugrana.

So, Barça's defense isn't exactly top-notch, and Real Madrid's goal total is totally doable.

But Real Madrid has never scored more than 74 points in regulation time against Barça this season, either at home or away, in the Euroleague or the ASL. But you could say the same about Barça. And now Kevin Punter's injured. Who's going to rack up the points?

Stats betting

In both games of the season, one of which took place in the Spanish capital, Barcelona outscored Real Madrid on two-point shots. In both games, they fouled more often. The rebounding totals were also very high, at 92 and 91. Assuming another low-scoring game with more misses, the rebounding total is higher and looks relevant. By the way, Barça has never lost to an opponent in terms of rebounds, and even won 48:43 in Madrid.

In both of these games, the opponents didn't play a single half with a total of at least 80 points, but they played three quarters with a total under 35.5. 

Expert Betting Tips

Honestly, both teams are pretty bad today. They both need more skilled players. They both embarrassed themselves in the King's Cup. We think the game will be a close one, with neither team having a big advantage. We also don't expect a high-scoring game.

Our picks:

TU (169.5) for 1.91 

IT1O (89.5) for 1.80 

Least Effective Quarter TU (35.5) for 1.85