Both of these games are about a home side meeting a visitor whose early-season play says more than the brand name does. Real Madrid arrive in Santiago after three away Euroleague games in about a week, still learning a new coach's system, against an Obradoiro side that has had a full week off. Chemnitz come to Jena for the Ostderby still without a league road win and with a Eurocup game right behind it. In both cases the home team has a clear plan for what the visitor is doing badly.
Real lost at Dubai, Efes and Hapoel Tel Aviv, with under three days between the last trip and this game. Pedro Martinez is in his first season after Scariolo left, and seven new players came in. Against Hapoel, the bench gave them very little.
The shooting hasn't been there either. Real are around 30% from three over their last five games and needed everything to beat Unicaja 89-87 at home in the league opener. They haven't been pulling away from people lately, and their recent meetings with Obradoiro were mostly decided by single digits.
Obradoiro won at Andorra in their first game back in the league. Diego Epifanio's plan is straightforward: own the defensive glass to cut off Real's second-chance threes, then run at a tired team.
In Jena, the record looks worse than it is. Both heavy defeats came at MBC and at Trier, with only two days between them. Back home, Jena beat Vechta and held them to 7 of 30 from three.
Chemnitz have the more talented roster, and Jena's coach Steven Esterkamp said as much. But in the league it hasn't shown away from home: losses at Alba and Hamburg, then a Eurocup loss in Bursa where they turned it over a lot and shot poorly. They also only got past Hagen by a point at home. Sacar Anim makes his Jena debut as an extra perimeter defender, the arena is close to sold out for the derby, and Chemnitz host Neptunas in the Eurocup a few days later.
