After moving last season to Paulistano, Rafael "Baby" Araújo will be returning to Flamengo. The centre signed a two-year deal with the club he helped conquer the Brazilian league title and the South American championship in 2009. "Baby" declared to be very happy with the return, especially due to the empathy he created with the club and the quality of roster for next season. With the addition of the 29-year-old, Flamengo will have "a reference in the paint" in the words of coach Paulo Chupeta, since the team has been plagued by centre injuries. The club also re-signed Eduardo "Duda" Machado and Frederico "Fred" Santos a few days ago. After playing in the NCAA (Brigham Young University) and the NBA (Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz), "Baby" landed in Russia and played one season for Spartak St. Petersburg before returning Brazil.
Flamengo's Marcelo Machado is used to scoring explosions once in a while, but last Sunday he took it one step forward. The 34-year-old scored an all-time record of 63 points, pulverizing the previous mark set by legendary Óscar Schmidt in 1999 with 59. Early this year "Marcelinho" had already scored 45 points. The forward, who had 38 points by halftime, helped his team beat São José 101 to 80, adding four rebounds, one assist and a steal. Such amount of points also carried another milestone: "Marcelinho" netted 16 three-pointers out of 21 attempts, something that also no other player had done before. These numbers might as well constitute a record beyond the Brazilian borders, as in two of the best world leagues the marks are 12 (Kobe Bryant and Donyell Marshall, NBA) and 11 (Schmidt, Spanish ACB) threes. The Brazilian international, who admitted to have been inspired by watching Bryant's 81-point game recently, leads NBB with 26.8 points per game, as Flamengo is second in the table with 13 wins and four losses.
(Marcelo Machado, do Flamengo, está habituado a explosões ocasionais de marcação de pontos, mas no passado domingo foi um pouco mais longe. O jogador de 34 anos estabeleceu um recorde de 63 pontos, pulverizando a anterior marca do lendário Óscar Schmidt, que marcou 59 em 1999. No início deste ano, Marcelinho já tinha marcado 45 pontos numa ocasião. O extremo, que contava 38 pontos ao intervalo, ajudou a sua equipa a bater o São José por 101-80, acrescentando quatro ressaltos, uma assistência e outro roubo de bola. Tamanha quantidade de pontos acarretou ainda outro recorde: Marcelinho encestou 16 triplos em 21 tentativas, algo que nenhum jogador fizera antes. Estes números podem muito bem constituir um recorde além fronteiras, já que em duas das melhores ligas mundiais as marcas são 12 (Kobe Bryant e Donyell Marshall, NBA) e 11 (Schmidt, ACB espanhola) triplos. O internacional brasileiro, que admitiu ter sido inspirado pelo visionamento recente dos 81 pontos de Bryant, lidera a NBB com 26,8 pontos por jogo, com o Flamengo na segunda posição da tabela classificativa com 13 vitórias e quatro derrotas.)
Financial difficulties and internal problems did not prevent Flamengo from conquering the title of the debut edition of NBB. The club adds the championship to the South American League trophy. Marcelinho Machado was the MVP of the game. (As dificuldades financeiras e os problemas internos não impediram que o Flamengo se sagrasse campeão da primeira edição do NBB. O clube acrescentou o campeonato ao troféu da Liga Sul-Americana. Marcelinho Machado foi o MVP do encontro.)
With an amazing performance by Marcelinho Machado, Flamengo proclaimed South American League champions yesterday by beating Quimsa 96 to 98. The Brazilian forward scored 41 points (30 in the first half), converting 10 threes out of 12, and so handing the title to the Rio de Janeiro team for the first time in their history. The victory also put and end to three years of Argentinian dominance in the competition. The 33-year-old Brazil international was justifiably named the tournament MVP. Quimsa's best player was curiously another Brazilian, Wanderson Trigueiro, who scored 25 points and grabbed 5 rebounds, while teammates Julio Mázzaro and Gabriel Mikulas had 20 and 17 points respectively. This is the second time this year a Brazilian club wins a continental competition, after Universo Brasília claimed the Americas League trophy in February. For the third place, Cúcuta from Colombia downed defending champions Regatas Corrientes 86-92.
(Com uma exibição magistral de Marcelinho Machado, o Flamengo proclamou-se, ontem, campeão da Liga Sul-Americana, ao derrotar o Quimsa por 96-98. O extremo brasileiro marcou 41 pontos (30 dos quais na primeira parte), convertendo 10 triplos em 12 tentados, e entregando, assim, o título à equipa do Rio de Janeiro pela primeira vez na história do clube. A vitória pôs também termo a três anos de domínio argentino na competição. O internacional brasileiro de 33 anos foi, justificadamente, eleito MVP do torneio. O melhor jogador do Quimsa foi, curiosamente, outro brasileiro, Wanderson Trigueiro, que marcou 25 pontos e capturou 5 ressaltos, enquanto que os companheiros de equipa Julio Mázzaro e Gabriel Mikulas obtiveram 20 e 17 pontos, respectivamente. Tratou-se do segundo título este ano para equipas brasileiras em competições continentais, depois de o Universo Brasília ter arrecadado o troféu da Liga das Américas em Fevereiro. No jogo de atribuição do terceiro lugar, o Cúcuta da Colômbia derrotou os ex-campeões Regatas Corrientes por 86-92.)
Every point of the 41 scored by Flamengo's Marcelinho Machado (Todos os pontos dos 41 marcados por Marcelinho Machado do Flamengo)
After moving last season to Paulistano, Rafael "Baby" Araújo will be returning to Flamengo. The centre signed a two-year deal with the club he helped conquer the Brazilian league title and the South American championship in 2009. "Baby" declared to be very happy with the return, especially due to the empathy he created with the club and the quality of roster for next season. With the addition of the 29-year-old, Flamengo will have "a reference in the paint" in the words of coach Paulo Chupeta, since the team has been plagued by centre injuries. The club also re-signed Eduardo "Duda" Machado and Frederico "Fred" Santos a few days ago.
