Practice Report: Where the Suns Over-Respect the Cavs and Barbosa Explains The Goat

After the Suns practiced today, Coach Alvin Gentry (sort-of) confirmed my post-game theory that the Suns didn't believe they could beat the Cavs.

"We seemed to give them more respect than I think, I mean they're a great team, but we're a pretty dog-god good team too and we need to play against them the way we play against all the other good teams," said Gentry.

Gentry had a similar remark after losing to the Laker's the first time. It seems to be part of the deal that comes with a veteran team. A young group like the Thunder don't know how good they are and don't worry about their place in the universe. A team like the Suns understands all too well where they fit in the order of things and last night, and against the Cavs and Lakers earlier in the season the Suns played like a team that knew it couldn't compete.

Maybe that's not correct, but that's my theory and I'm sticking to it. How else do you explain going scoreless for 7+ minutes even against the Cavs defense and the general lack of confidence and decisiveness that Nash described?

Yes, missing Barbosa doesn't help and Gentry said as much, "It's been tough. You know because we are 4 and 7 without him now. Obviously, he's a guy that can come in and when we are struggling offensively he's been usually the guy to give us that spark. He can come up with a basket or two here and there and sometimes he can get on a roll, you know that, where he can really change the game."

And speaking about LB, (nice segue, huh?) he's still on track to play on Christmas Day. He practiced today for the first time 3 on 3 and is still feeling some pain and discomfort in the ankle. His wrist is still bothering him as well to the point that he can't flex it all the way back and he's dribbling more with his left hand to compensate.

This was the worst ankle injury Barbosa has suffered in his career. Asked about the injury he said this, "It was the worst. It was something different for me. I never saw my ankle got that big. It was impressive for me. I was kind of scared but I know that we have a good trainer and they did a great job, I'm recovering real well."

And on the most important question of the day, Leandro talked about his unusual goat-like "singing" performance on the most recent Steve Nash video, "All Night Long", "We used to do that every game that we win. I don't know where that came from but I just started doing it and the guys liking it and laughing so I think it was funny so I keep it up."

Paul Coro followed up with the hard hitting question of the day asking LB if he was trying to sound like a goat, "No. No I'm not trying you know it just happened it was normal. It just came. I didn't try nothing. I'm going to check it out. I wanted to see it."

Full Audio from Gentry and Barbosa (hear for yourself) after the jump:

Speaking of audio, I am thinking of setting up another podcast account so I can syndicate these audio files and you can subscribe to an audio only feed for your iPod or other devise. But that costs a bit of money. Is there interest in that? If so, let me know.

Daily Links:

• The Official Phoenix Suns Blog " Blog Archive " Day in the Life of a GM: Communication
• Cavaliers 109, Suns 91 -- Home dominance halted| Valley of the Suns
  The Cleveland Cavaliers ended the Phoenix Suns' home winning streak at 19 games with a 109-91 victory in US Airways Center.
• Shaq Returns to Phoenix in Limited Role With Cavaliers -- NBA FanHouse
• Cavaliers Hand Suns First Home Loss of the Season -- NBA FanHouse
• The Official Phoenix Suns Blog » Blog Archive » LeBron Show Gives Suns First Home Loss of the Season
• Suns starting to feel like they belong near the top
  Notes: The Suns are starting to feel like they deserve to be among the West's top four teams.
• Cavaliers end Suns' home winning streak
  Cavaliers end Suns' home winning streak, The Suns still might be unbeatable at home, as long as you don't count the Cleveland Cavaliers. {snl} Photos from the game | Box score
• YouTube - VOTE4AMARE 2010- EPISODE 2 - GOGGLES
  The second in a series of 4 shorts featuring Amar'e Stoudemire and David Spade preparing Amar'e to take his game to the...

and because I KNOW YOU CARE...

Ann Meyers Drysdale: Mercury Not Likely To Return Full Championship Roster - Swish Appeal
Of the Mercury core players, only Diana Taurasi is under contract for the 2010 season. Mercury GM Ann Meyers-Drysdale admits that it will be very difficult to return the entire roster given a significant cut to the salary cap which was done to save teams money.

From the "It Could Always Be Worse" Department we give you the Chicago Bulls (and some Spurs angst)

• 'Net reaction: Bulls' epic collapse - Ball Don't Lie - NBA Blog - Yahoo! Sports
  Comprehensive National Basketball Association news, scores, standings, fantasy games, rumors, and more
• Basketbawful
  The very best of the worst of professional basketball.
• Hardwood Paroxysm " Blog Archive " The San Antonio Crisis Of Faith