http://www.yardbarker.com/users/LeandroBarbosa Recent Yardbarker Articles: LeandroBarbosa en-us What's up everyone? Sorry its been a while since I last blogged. I had to sort of lay low and chill out for a while to get through the anger and disappointment of losing in the first round. It's been an emotional roller coaster these last few weeks to say the least. Wow. I am still trying to recover from what happened to us in the first round. We could have and should have won that series. It is mind boggling and one of the hardest things I've had to swallow in a long time. You work your butt off the whole season with such high hopes and potential and it all just crumbled. I was frustrated with my play and the team's play as well. San Antonio is an incredible team with an unbelievable coach and they deserved to win. They know their roles, respect their coach, and know what it takes to win in the playoffs. I really think game one set the tone for the series. It gave them confidence and momentum. We should have won that game. Really they blew us out only one game and we blew them out one game. The other three just have easily could have gone our way. But it's in the past now and we have to forgive and forget. I have to take the experience and learn from it and it just motivates me to work my @ss off this summer! So here we are now....vacation started a little early this year. I have no choice but to move on at this point and focus on my game and next season. I am leaving for Brazil soon and I'm so excited to get home and see my family and friends. I'm going to rest my body for a bit and then get to work. I am really motivated and am going to work hard this summer on my defense and mid range jumper, along with all the other fundamentals. Thanks to all of you for your support during the season. I really appreciate it. I'll check in with you all to say what's up. Tchau! Mon, 05 May 2008 13:44:24 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/263640 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/263640 So last week I got the chance to partner up with Qwest Communications to host a leadership basketball clinic at US Airways Center. I wanted to share some pics with you guys from the special day. As part of the Qwest Leadership Challenge, high school basketball students were given the chance to use leadership skills to improve the communities they live in. Each student put in 30 hours of their own time and completed a community based project that included service to a non profit or school related cause. Phoenix Suns assistance coach and a good friend of mine Dan D'Antoni helped me out and we worked with about 30 students at the clinic and talked about the importance of leadership in the community. Also, the Phoenix Suns and Qwest honored two students with $5,000 college scholarships which I thought was so cool. I like to see good kids get rewarded for their hard work. These guys and girls definitely deserved it. Check out the pictures attached. One is of the group and one is of the two students that won the scholarships. Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:17:37 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/237123 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/237123 After tonight we have only three more games left in the regular season. Crazy huh? I can't believe the season is coming to an end. It has flown by so fast. We got some good news though on Monday that we have secured a playoff spot which was good news considering the tight standings here in the wild west. Now we have to do our best to try and get home court advantage if possible. We got in to San Antonio late last night from Memphis after we got a much needed win. On Monday after arriving in Memphis the team got together to watch the big game. It was kind of cool being there to share in the excitement even though they lost. I didn't really care who won. Just love watching a good basketball game and checking out the players that will be in the NBA soon. College basketball has a lot of talented players. It's a good reminder that I need to keep working hard and improving my game. I can't let them replace me! Well, gotta catch the bus in an hour for the game tonight so I gotta go shower, pack and order my cappuccino. This game is big for us in so many ways. San Antonio is at the top right now and we would love to finish the season on a roll. Go Suns! Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:15:53 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/233610 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/233610 I guess we've figured out the way to play high speed and half court offense together and I'm very happy about that. Before I came to America I only knew how to play one way......high speed. I guess this was a good time to learn because I can see the opportunity that this team has to take it all the way. And for me it is a dream to win an NBA championship and I think this city and the fans deserve a ring. We have won 6 games in a row but now comes the real test. We play Houston tomorrow at home and then leave for a week long road trip that will start off in Detroit and then go to Boston. Three great teams in a row. We have a chance to take a big step forward and I really hope we can make it happen. I shot a commercial for Qwest yesterday so make sure you guys watch for it on tv! Well, I just finished my bananas foster and I need to get some rest for tomorrow's game so I'm outta here. Good night and Happy Easter for everyone. Go Suns! Sat, 22 Mar 2008 01:06:58 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/213772 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/213772 Hope you all had a chance to watch Sunday against the Spurs. What a game. We finally made some progress and came out with a big win. Hopefully this will give us some momentum going forward. We still have a lot of work to do but I think we're feeling more and more comfortable with Shaq in there. He had a great game and has added so much energy and enthusiasm to this team. I don't know how he didn't hurt someone when he flew over two rows of people. Or maybe he did! The Spurs are such a good team and have so much experience. It means a lot to come out with the win. We also added Gordan Giricek last week. What do you guys think of Gordan? I've been pretty impressed so far even though he hasn't seen that many minutes. I celebrated the win yesterday by going to the movies and seeing two in a row. I watched Vantage Point and then Step Up 2. Those dancers in Step Up 2 are crazy good. You should all check it out. I wanna learn to dance like that! Ha ha. Well I'm gonna eat some lunch and take a nap. 3 more games at home before we travel again. Memphis, G State and Sac. Should be interesting. Would someone beat Houston already? Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:36:06 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/190180 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/190180 So we just got to Portland last night and after a great meal at a churrascaria (Brazilian steakhouse) I feel good and ready to go. Last week was tough to say the least but I think we all feel the need to step it up and start winning some ball games. Losing against Phili at home hurt. It's been a tough transition especially for Steve but we've all had to try and change our style a little bit. The west is stacked with great teams and it's going to get interesting that's for sure. It's really anyone's game right now which is both exciting and scary at the same time. We go up against my friend and ex teammate James Jones tonight. I'm excited to see "Junior". He's a good guy and definitely missed here in Phoenix. Well I'm off to shootarounds. Tchau! Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:21:38 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/180294 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/180294 What's up everyone? So I got back on Monday from a nice and relaxing All Star break. I went to Cabo. It was my first time and I can't wait to go back. As soon as the season is over I'm going back and taking my whole family before I go back to Brazil for the summer. It was so nice! I just chilled all weekend. Hung out at the beach, played cards, watched the All Star events and ate lots of lava cake! As much as I enjoyed having a couple days off I was so ready to get back to basketball. I feel good and am ready to finish the season strong. Not sure if you all had a chance to watch us play the Lakers on Wednesday but if you didn't you missed a good game. Shaq made his debut and I have to tell you I was pretty impressed. He looked good out there and although we didn't get the win we walked away feeling really good. It's going to take some time for us to get used to him and for him to get used to us too. The fans were so loud it felt like a playoff game. It got me pumped for playoff time. We have a HUGE game tonight against a strong Celtics team. I think it will be a good test for us but it's even more important for us to keep building momentum and confidence as we get used to having Shaq Daddy here. Thanks for all of the support! Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:40:59 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/161767 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/161767 It's official. Shaq is here. I can't even tell you how excited we are to have "The Diesel" join this team. I heard the rumors but didn't really know if they were true until our morning shoot-around was cancelled. As I was pulling into the arena I got the news confirming the trade. As soon as I walked into the locker room that day I could feel something different. There was a different type of energy already and it was such a crazy feeling.....so many emotions. Trades are part of the business. And even though I was sad to see Shawn and Marcus go, I was so excited to have a true center finally join our team. Man that guy is big! He gave me a pat on the back and almost knocked the wind out of me. He is such a funny guy I think he will bring a lot more than just size and talent to this team. His sense of humor and experience will be just as valuable. I'm not sure when he'll actually get to play but we are really looking forward to what is to come. I wish Shawn and Marcus all the best and they will DEFINITELY be missed here that is for sure. Although we ended up losing a heartbreaking game that night it was so cool to feel the new energy in the building. The crowd was louder and crazier than normal. Well I gotta start getting ready for the game tonight. Hopefully we won't have any overtimes tonight! Seattle tonight and Washington Sunday. Welcome, Shaq! Fri, 08 Feb 2008 16:32:50 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/131742 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/131742 Well now that the Super Bowl is long gone, life goes back to normal. Between the Super Bowl and the Phoenix Open, the Phoenix area was the place to be this past weekend. We had a couple days off so I was able to go to some pretty cool parties. There were so many celebrities and athletes here it was crazy. I thought about going to the game but decided to stay home, barbeque with the family and watch the game on the couch. WHAT A GAME! I thought the Pats were gonna win it but I was rooting for the Giants the whole time. It just goes to show that heart and determination go a long way. It was a good lesson to learn. After a surprise loss to San Antonio on Thursday we were all pretty disappointed. We should have won that game. For some reason we just couldn't get it going offensively that night. But I was definitley impressed by our defensive effort. We got back in our groove last night and hopefully we can keep it up with 3 more home games this week. Tomorrow we're up against New Orleans which should be a good game. Wish us luck! Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:18:13 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/126585 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/126585 Hello everyone! Im so excited to be a part of the "yard" and cant wait to hear what Yardbarker fans have to say. This is such a cool way toconnect with fans not only here in Phoenix, but across the US and even my home country of Brazil! We just got back from a 4 game road trip and we were able to win 3 of them which was pretty good. We had a very disappointing loss against Minnesota but followed it up with a huge win against Cleveland. That win was an emotional one because it was so close and I think it gave us some momentum to build on. Were back in Phoenix for 2 weeks. I'm looking forward to being home and in the warmer weather! As you all know the Super Bowl is in Phoenix this year so its been pretty crazy here but a lot of fun. Being from Brazil I've always loved soccer but living here in the US for the past 4 years I've really learned to enjoy football too. Well we have a big game tonight against San Antonio. Were looking to win 2 in a row against them. Tony Parker didnt play the last time and I'm hearing he probably wont play tonight either. But we still have to be careful. Theyve won 4 titles for a reason! Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:17:42 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/118014 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/118014