Leandro Barbosa’s bounce pass to no one (Video)
By Will Osgood
In Game 4 of their Western Conference quarterfinals series the Golden State Warriors’ Leandro Barbosa found himself in no man’s land bouncing the ball to no one.
In his early days as a member of the Phoenix Suns, Leandro Barbosa was one of the quickest and most exciting guards in the NBA. He was the rare player who could bounce the ball into open space and get to it before anyone else.
Now with the Golden State Warriors, he is advanced in age–now 32-years-old–and can’t necessarily do that anymore. Of course, the basic rules of basketball have always prevented him from completing the play he was forced into in Saturday night’s playoff game against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Credit Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday with a great closeout to prevent Barbosa from taking the corner-3 and forcing Barbosa to release the ball into no man’s land.
It is possible, however, that in his earlier days, the crafty Barbosa may have found some way to get around said basic rules of basketball with quick thinking and even quicker feet like Bugs Bunny.
That’s the sort of thing the younger Barbosa might do, and he probably would have gotten away with it because he would have made said move in a Tasmanian Devil-like raging blur.
In the end, Barbosa’s odd play didn’t cost the Warriors as they defeated the Pelicans 109-98 in The Crescent City to close out the quarterfinals series with a 4 games to zero sweep to advance to Western Conference semifinals.
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