Varejão comments on Flamengo's vibrant performance in the victory over Corinthians
Pivot talks about the marathon the team has ahead of it next week
By Lucas Dantas - in
Anderson Varejão played 14 minutes on the court against Corinthians this Saturday. In the derby victory, the center scored four points and grabbed seven rebounds, crucial to the team's defense, which grabbed 44 in total. The 72-64 result put the "Mais Querido" back in the winning column and lessened the damage caused by Thursday's loss to Pinheiros. After that match, Varejão commented that the loss would open the team's eyes to some mistakes. After today's victory, the center commented on the team's change in play, which led Corinthians for the entire 40 minutes and had a devastating first quarter.
For the player, it wasn't a change in attitude, but that the team came in differently, and the way they played at the beginning made a difference in the final result.
"In the game against Pinheiros, we weren't good, especially offensively, and we weren't able to impose our game. I'm not saying we lacked attitude, but today we came out with more energy from the start. I think things have improved, but we're still not playing our best basketball. We have room to improve a lot, and we have to keep training hard to see what we did wrong and change for the next games."
With Saturday's match over, Flamengo will face another marathon of classics. Next Tuesday, the duel will be against Bauru and on Thursday, against Franca, both in the interior of São Paulo. And on Saturday, Vasco da Gama, in Rio de Janeiro. This comes after another tough streak. For the center, this is the schedule, and the team needs to prepare for what lies ahead.
"At some point in the season, this was bound to happen. It's important that the team is doing well, that we're doing well, and we have to respond to this stronger streak in the best way possible. Knowing that we have to rest more, in the free time when we're not training, and that this will be important for our performance on the court," he concluded.
The basketball teams of Clube de Regatas do Flamengo receive funding from their sponsors – thinkseg, AmBev, Rede D'or, IRB Brasil RE, CSN, Brasil Plural, and EY – via the Federal Incentive Law/Ministry of Sports (IR) and the State Incentive Law/Rio de Janeiro State Secretariat of Sports, Recreation, and Youth (Seelje), in addition to support from the Brazilian Club Committee (CBC) resulting from the decentralization of resources generated by the Pelé Law. The Anjo da Guarda Rubro-Negro Project, a personal tax transfer, benefits all Olympic sports of the Most Beloved.