Flamengo is closer to its fifth Rio de Janeiro basketball championship. On Monday night, despite playing away from home and without its star player, Marcelinho Machado, coach Paulo Chupeta's team defeated Club Municipal in Tijuca 96-80, opening up a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three final series of the Rio de Janeiro State Championship. The match ended up being more difficult than expected, but Flamengo emerged victorious. The red-and-blacks' standouts were Duda, with 21 points, Fred, with 19, and Hélio, with 18.

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The red-and-black team's performance wasn't the best, but it was enough to give the reigning four-time champions the lead in the final. After a devastating first quarter, Flamengo struggled in the second and third periods, when Municipal played a significant role, but recovered in the final quarter to win the match. The second leg of the finals is next Wednesday at 20 pm at the same venue as the first leg, Club Municipal. Another positive result will see the red-and-black team secure its fifth consecutive Campeonato Carioca title. The State final matches also serve as a warm-up for Flamengo's Liga das Américas competition, which begins next weekend.

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Flamengo is in Group B of the competition, which will be played in Isla Margarita, Venezuela. The League is the only title Flamengo has competed for but not yet won in the last three years. Mengão's opponents in Group B are Espartanos, the home team from Isla Margarita, Venezuela, the Mexican Halcones Rojos, and Capitanes de Arecibo, from Puerto Rico. It's worth noting that, if they qualify for the Final Four, Flamengo will already have their best campaign in the history of the League of the Americas, having been eliminated in the first round in the previous two editions. Interestingly, last season, the team even beat the champion, Universo/BRB/Financeira Brasília, in the qualifying round, but ended up outside the Final Four.