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Injuries limited Phoenix guard Leandro Barbosa to a career-low 44 games and to his worse season in five years. His Suns have advanced deep into the playoffs.But Barbosa said there's no doubt he will play for his native Brazil in this summer's World Championships in Turkey.
"I'm expecting a lot from our country,'' Barbosa, who averaged 9.5 points for the Suns in a season that included missing nearly two months following January wrist surgery, said in an interview with FanHouse. "I think we're going to be well.''
Barbosa has been a fixture for Brazil in international play so it's no surprise he's ready to play again. Barbosa is excited because he believes all of the country's top players will compete in Turkey.
Expected also to play are Denver center Nene, Cleveland forward Anderson Varejao and big man Tiago Splitter, whose rights are held by San Antonio and could join the Spurs next season after playing in Spain. The Brazilians have a new coach in Ruben Magnano, who is from Argentina and led the country to the 2004 Olympic gold medal.
Share "We can be really good,'' said Barbosa, whose Suns open the West final Monday against the Los Angeles Lakers. "We have a lot of players in the NBA and Brazil, and we have a new coach. I talked to (Argentina star Manu Ginobili of San Antonio) about the coach that we have right now. He said he's really good, and he has a lot of experience on the national team situation.''
For the past decade, Brazil has looked primed to join Argentina and Spain as primary challengers to Team USA, but inexperience and not getting all the top players to compete were problems. But Brazil, with Argentina not having Ginobili and Spain to be without Lakers star Pau Gasol, now looks to have a decent chance to medal in Turkey.
Chris Tomasson can be reached at tomasson@fanhouse.com or on Twitter @christomasson
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