After missing Flamengo's Basketball League of the Americas, Flamengo's leading scorer and captain Marcelinho Machado is back. The number 4 traveled with the team to São Paulo, where the team will face Franca this Friday and Araraquara next Sunday, two crucial matches for the Flamengo team in the 2009-2010 New Basketball Brazil season.

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Feeling better from the tendinitis in his left arm, the point guard believes that during the game, he'll be able to better assess his recovery. It's worth remembering that in the first edition of the NBB, Marcelinho scored 735 points in 28 qualifying matches, an average of 26,3. In the playoffs, he increased his points per game to 28,4 and was largely responsible for Flamengo's NBB title victory. This season, however, the red-and-black forward's scoring is slightly lower, but he continues to lead the league in terms of statistics.

"It still bothers me a little, but it's improved a lot. In training I can even control it, but in the game I'll give 100% and then I'll know if my hand is good or not," he analyzed.

In addition to being Flamengo's top scorer, Marcelo is the top scorer in the 2009-2010 NBB, averaging 24,5 points per game. To date, he has played in all six of Flamengo's games in the competition and has scored over 20 points on five occasions. Only in the victory against São José/Unimed/Vinac, in the fifth round, did the winger score just 15 points. Center Alírio recognizes how important his teammate is to the team.

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"He [Marcelinho] is a key player in our game. Besides being the top scorer, he's a leader and always pulls the group forward. He was sorely missed in the Liga das Américas," he explained.

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Alírio, who also missed six league games, laments that the team has suffered so much from injuries. Not only to Marcelinho, but also to himself, point guard Fred, and others. The player hopes 2010 will be better in this regard and warns: it will be tough to face Flamengo, especially in the playoffs.

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"We've had a lot of absences. I myself was out for six league games without the team. So, with the full squad, we have a great chance of achieving one of our goals, which is to qualify well, in first or second place, or first place if possible, to have more home games in the play-offs. We have a strong squad - beating us is tough. God willing, we won't have any more injuries and will be able to play with the full squad," he concluded.