By Dan Ferrara, NBA International
He’s 33 years old and has logged 13 seasons in the NBA, but Leandro Barbosa has continually shown that when the stage is biggest, he’ll shine brightest.
Leandrinho proved that once again in the playoffs with the Golden State Warriors and is now doing so on the grand Olympics stage.
The veteran guard from San Paolo scored a game-high 21 points in Brazil’s Olympics opener against Lithuania, though it wasn’t enough in the 82-76 loss.
Still, Barbosa has a proven track record of personal Olympics success – dating back to 2012, he has played seven games and scored in double-figures in six of them, including three 20-point efforts. He is proving that he is the leader of Brazil on and off the court, and he is deserving of the honor.
Barbosa will look to bring Brazil their first basketball medal since 1964, when they won bronze in Tokyo. The country has never won higher than bronze, so potentially winning a silver or gold medal this summer while they are the host nation would be enormous for the country.
They certainly have enough NBA firepower to do it, with Nene and Marcelo Huertas joining Barbosa on the court. It may be a tall task with all of the great competition worldwide, but Brazilians are believing that anything is possible with Barbosa leading the way.
