The Suns won’t have Leandro Barbosa tonight and likely for up to a week after he left the team Thursday bound for his home in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Early Thursday afternoon, Barbosa received word that his mother Ivete had passed away.

 The relationship between Barbosa and his mother is a very close one. She visited Arizona every spring for an extended visit and the two talked by phone at least a half-dozen times a day. She survived a bout with cancer a few years ago but had been hospitalized in poor health for months. Barbosa lost his father to cancer in 2005.

 Barbosa struggled early this season and the heavy heart he has been carrying can’t be measured. He knew he needed to be here playing for the Suns but was desperate to be at his mother’s side at the same time. She was the guiding force in his life and in many ways his best friend. She was a huge Suns fan and lived to see and was immensely proud of how famous her youngest son had become.

 On the court, the Suns are short at the shooting guard position with Barbosa leaving. Alando Tucker is still at least two weeks away from returning from arthroscopic knee surgery. Goran Dragic has been essentially a two-guard at times and could switch there for a time with Sean Singletary logging a few minutes at the point. Or Phoenix could go with Grant Hill behind Raja Bell and leave the small forward duties to Matt Barnes and Boris Diaw — provided Barnes isn’t suspended by the league for Wednesday’s dust-up with Houston’s Rafer Alston.

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