Flamengo's basketball form couldn't be better. Eleven consecutive wins, leading the Novo Basquete Brasil team, and star Marcelinho Machado scoring big. However, the main factor behind this strong streak of positive results, according to Flamengo's players and coaching staff, isn't the offense. Quite the opposite. It's the defense.

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After all, everyone knows the red-and-black team's potential to score, both from long-range and through infiltrations. Therefore, the difference has to be in the marking. That's what coach Paulo Chupeta and his assistant, João Batista, always convey to the group. And the players seem to have taken the message well.

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"What João Batista says to us is almost boring (laughs). He talks a lot and says we have to focus on defending. We know that. Our team's attack is very strong, so if we defend well and defend well, it will be a big step towards the team's performance up front," explained point guard Hélio.

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Power forward Guilherme Teichmann agrees. According to him, it was precisely the defensive evolution that led to Flamengo's game-changing style in the second half of the NBB.

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"The team improved a lot in the second half of the season, we haven't lost a single game, and that's because we're marking well and playing consistently in defense," he said.

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According to Chupeta, the defense's aggressiveness in the first quarter of the victory over Palmeiras/Araraquara is a model for the rest of the season.

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"We played an aggressive, consistent defense, and we were up 30 points in the first quarter. This ended up scaring the Araraquara team a little, and we decided the game right there," he added.

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Flamengo returns to action next Friday at 20 p.m. against Bauru. After the match against the São Paulo team, there will be only three games remaining in the qualifying round of the 2009-2010 New Basketball Brazil.