Flamengo finished the qualifying round of the New Basketball Brazil tournament in second place, but despite not securing first place, the team from Gávea posted impressive performances in the competition. Coach Paulo Chupeta's team managed, no less, to boast the best offense and defense in the competition.

\

Coach Paulo Chupeta's team averaged 91,8 points per game, with 27,35 of them coming from Marcelinho Machado, the championship's top scorer. Flamengo also had the best three-point shooting percentage in the 2009/2010 NBB qualifying round: 41,98%. Point guard Hélio, responsible for fueling the Flamengo's attack, celebrated the result.

\

"Sometimes people don't appreciate the point guard's work because he doesn't score as many points. But the team understands the importance of this work to provide the players who shoot more. Sometimes I score a few points, but that's not my job. Our game is to call the plays and know where each teammate will run and pass. Then we provide the assists and make things difficult for the opposing defense," explained the number 5.

\

A key statistic for this strong offensive performance is the number of steals per game. Flamengo recovered the most balls in this National Championship, averaging 9,12 steals. This is also essential for giving the red-and-black team the best defense in the competition, conceding only 77,27 points per game.

\

"This is an important number because it helps with the transition from defense to attack. It prevents us from conceding points and also helps us score points," added Hélio.

\

Marcelinho - Rubro-Negro captain Marcelinho Machado was the standout individual performer of this campaign. Besides being the season's top scorer, averaging 27,35 points, he had the best three-point shooting percentage in the 2009/2010 NBB qualifying round: 43,00%. He was also the most efficient, averaging 26,38 points, and the top ball stealer, averaging 2,46.