The Suns lost Shaquille O’Neal to a flagrant Level 2 foul on Detroit’s Rodney Stuckey at the 5:19 mark of the second quarter Sunday. O’Neal attempted to block a shot from Stuckey and in the follow-through, Stuckey landed face-first on the court. The referees called the Level 2 foul initially and upheld the call after looking at the video replay.

 O’Neal had scored 12 points in 13 minutes at the time of the ejection and the Suns were leading 48-33. The Suns held that lead to the half, shooting 70.3 percent from field and leading 61-46 at intermission.

 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.

 The Brazilian newspaper Globosporte reported Thursday that Leandro Barbosa’s mother, Ivete Barbosa, passed away from resporatory failure after a long illness at a Sao Paulo hospital.

 Barbosa, who spent two weeks with Ivete in early October when she was attached to a breathing machine, is expected to return to Brazil immediately to join friends and family.

Other notes that might have been lost in the scuffle after Wednesday’s unsightly loss to Houston:

*Amare Stoudemire was frustrated with the fact that he only had four shots in the first half, despite having what he considered an obvious matchup advantage against Luis Scola and backups Chuck Hayes and Carl Landry. He pointed to the gameplan board in the Suns locker room intimating that he was supposed to be the focal point of the attack.

 “Scola, it’s his second year in the league. Chuck Hayes and Carl Landry, they’re OK players but I definitely need to dominate those guys early – anytime,” Stoudemire said. “Nothing against them, they played well tonight. But just from a fact of wanting to dominate and wanting to take over the ball game, that’s what I wanted to do. Wasn’t quite able to do it tonight … We are a team, we have to stick together. Hopefully, we can figure out a way to get wins.”

 Stoudemire hasn’t been among the voices questioning the Suns’ offensive tempo over the first eight games, because the offense is now centered on he and Shaquille O’Neal down low. But after taking only two free throws against the Rockets – only one game removed from a three-game run where he went to the line 53 times — he was obviously frustrated.

 “We definitely have to think about where we’re headed and what kind of team we are. We have to go to the drawing board and try to figure out how to take advantage of the mismatches out there. I was so ready to go … It happens some time. But if you look at the pregame routine and see guys like (Scola, Hayes and Landry), you definitely want to dominate and take over. We’ll see how we want to correct those mistakes.”

 It should be pointed out, however, that all three Rockets did a good job defensively of beating Stoudemire to his spots and got aggressive double-team help from teammates, especially in the first half. Houston coach Rick Adleman saw that the Suns have so many struggles elsewhere in the offense that taking away what’s been humming along (Stoudemire) could really gum up the works. And a 72-point night is the proof.

 *It looked like Steve Nash might have hurt his shoulder running into a stiff pick from Tracy McGrady in the third period. But Nash said he aggravated a pinched nerve in his neck that had been bothering him for the last week and the sudden jerk of his neck when he ran into the pick was the source of the trouble.
 That may have made the pick look worse than it was. Matt Barnes got a good look at it and said he was taking notes before he lowered a shoulder through a Rafer Alston pick, which set off the wild skirmish in the final minute of the third period.

 “You’ve always got to watch out for your team, especially for your star point guard,” Barnes said. “I don’t really know what (Alston) was thinking. He thinks he’s tough so he ran up on me. It was just a bunch of pushing.”

 *For the most part, coach Terry Porter didn’t seem as concerned with the offensive execution as others. He saw more of a lack of energy and the fact that the Suns didn’t finish around the rim (at least eight missed layups, and several other close shots) as culprits, along with an inspired effort from a Houston team that had lost three of its last four games and held a player’s only meeting after being blown out by the Lakers on Sunday.

 *Two brutal games back-to-back for Grant Hill, who was scoreless on the two-game homestand and is a big reason why the second unit continues to struggle. When Hill and Boris Diaw score two points in a game, as they did Wednesday, that group doesn’t have a lot of offensive options. Leandro Barbosa needed 15 shots to get 18 points. Robin Lopez missed a slam dunk that bounced so high it nearly skimmed the US Airways Center roof. Goran Dragic looked OK, popping down a few jumpers and getting to the rim for another bucket, but the rest of the group struggled.

 *Speaking of the Lakers – wow. They are now 7-0 and two games up on the Suns after beating the Hornets 93-86 in New Orleans Wednesday and are the NBA’s only unbeaten team after the Hawks lost in Boston at the buzzer. Even a 30-point, 13-assist night from Chris Paul wasn’t enough to derail them. If the Lakers can beat Detroit and Chicago at home, where they have been winning by double-digits with ease, they will be 9-0 when they come to Phoenix a week from tonight.

 *Wonder how the other half is living? While the Suns had a 37-point first half on Wednesday, Mike D’Antoni’s New York Knicks had two 37-point quarters and put 132 points up in Memphis on Wednesday – the same Memphis team the Suns struggled to put away Monday. The Knicks put down 19 3-pointers in the game to set a franchise record.

 As you might guess, most of the postgame chatter revolved around the Matt Barnes-Rafer Alston confrontation. Here’s what the principles had to say:

 Rafer Alston: “He (Barnes) just took a cheap shot at me. If you look at the replay, the ref is standing there watching it. It was a dirty play, he raised his arm. Good thing he didn’t connect and knock my teeth out. I was just setting a screen, we were trying to get two for one (shots to end the period). I was setting a screen for Mac (Tracy McGrady) so he could come off and get a good shot. I don’t know if he was frustrated by his game or their game or whatever was going on, but there was no call for that. There was no call for my reaction really, but sometimes when someone goes at you like that, you just react.

 Tracy McGrady: “I really don’t know. I just saw my teammate get into it and (Steve) Nash ran up and I was just defending my guy and the next thing I knew, I was on top of him.  The big fellah pushed the heck out of me.  It’s basketball, it happens. After that we just went back to playing. A big thing for us is we kept our composure and won this ball game”

 Matt Barnes: “It was just a bunch of pushing. I set a hard screen and he didn’t like it. They had a couple of hard screens on us. I saw them hit Steve with a pick The refs had to take control of the game. They thought throwing us out of the game would do it.”

 We’ve run into each other a couple of times before. Nothing like that. We’re both competitors. He plays hard, I play hard. When people play hard there is bound to be some ruckus sometimes

 (Did the play warrant ejections?) “I thought you had to throw a punch to get kicked out of a game. All I did was push him and he pushed me. T-Mac pushed Steve all the way to the ground and didn’t get kicked out. That’s just how it goes. A rough night all the way around and we look forward to playing them again the next time we see them.

 “We definitely have each other’s back on this team. That’s something I learned from day one on this team. It was drawn out a little longer after Steve got pushed down, but it was good to see everyone got each other’s back. That’s how you build a team.”

Steve Nash:  “(Alston) ran at Matt and so I tried to get in there and help Matt and make sure he wasn’t getting hammered over there and try to defuse the situation and I got pushed to the ground. It happened really quickly.”

 Shaquille O’Neal, a late arrival to the festivities who cleared everyone out one by one at the end: “It was just a shoving match. I saw somebody push my brother Steve (Nash) and so I came to his aid. It wasn’t anything good.”

 When someone made the observation that he moved a whole pile of players when he arrived on the scene, O’Neal said “That’s what I do. Move piles.”

 A little more than a week ago, the subject of retired numbers came up during a Terry Porter media scrum and a writer asked the Suns coach if his No. 30 Trail Blazers jersey hung in the rafters of Portland’s Rose Garden

 “Nope,” said Porter, who then rattled off the names and numbers of those who had been so honored. “But I’m still a young guy. Maybe they’ll get around to it.”

 Maybe Porter knew something because the Blazers announced Tuesday that No. 30 will be retired– but Porter will to have to share with Bobby Gross, a shooting forward on Portland’s 1977 NBA championship team.

 Porter’s ceremony will take place on Dec. 16 in Portland, while Gross will be honored two nights later when Portland and the Suns visit the Blazers.

 Porter and Gross will become the third pair of NBA players to share such an honor. In New York, the Knicks have retired No. 15 for both Dick McGuire and Earl Monroe, while No. 18 in Boston was retired for Dave Cowens and Jim Loscutoff – who asked that his number remain in use with the Celtics.

 “We are proud to honor our rich tradition by celebrating two men who put #30 front and center for many of this franchise’s finest moments,” Trail Blazers President Larry Miller said in a statement. “Terry and Bobby embodied what it means to be a Trail Blazer, on and off the court. We are thrilled to celebrate their contributions to the franchise.”

  Porter averaged 14.9 points and 7.0 assists per game during his 10-year tenure (1985-95), earning two All-Star appearances and leading the Blazers to the NBA Finals in 1990 and 1992. He remains the team’s all-time assist leader (5,319) and second-leading scorer (11,330) behind Clyde Drexler, while ranking third in games played (758).

 “The Trail Blazers organization gave me my chance and believed in me when 23 other teams did not, so they will always be special to me,” Porter said. “But this caps it off. I am honored and moved that they feel my jersey should be retired.

 “My whole basketball career has been about working hard every day and giving myself the opportunity to be the best player I could be. I would hope that Blazers fans would remember me as a player who gave everything he had when he stepped on the floor, competed, and represented the city and state to the best of my ability.”

  The number 30 will be the 11^th jersey to hang from the Portland rafters. Gross becomes the eighth member of the 1977 championship team to be honored, joining Dave Twardzik (13), Lionel Hollins (14) Larry Steele (15), Maurice Lucas (20), Bill Walton (32) Lloyd Neal (36) and head coach Jack Ramsay (77). Porter will join team founder Larry Weinberg, Clyde Drexler (22) and Geoff Petrie (45).

 With twins Carter and Isiah Barnes resting comfortably with mom, new daddy Matt Barnes will return to the Suns lineup – and his old starting job at small forward – when the Suns meet the Memphis Grizzlies tonight.

 Barnes returned to Phoenix on Sunday and got in a little practice himself in the evening and said he’s ready to go.

 In other Suns baby news, Raja Bell’s wife Cindi gave birth to their second child, a second a boy, on Sunday – about two weeks early, but just in time for him to come home from a five-day road trip and be there for the delivery. Bell missed Monday’s shootaround – as did Shaquille O’Neal, for an excuse absence – but both will join Barnes in the starting lineup tonight.

 Milwaukee guard Michael Redd will miss his third straight game with a sprained ankle. That makes for a little easier night for Raja Bell, who is still with the team after the labor pains felt by his wife, Cindi, turned out to be a false alarm. Bell will guard his namsake, ex-Sun Charlie Bell, who will get the start in place of Redd.

 TARRYTOWN, N.Y. – While Terry Porter eases into his first season as head coach of the Suns, Mike D’Antoni is already up to his neck in the choppy waters of life as the latest coach of the New York Knicks.

 D’Antoni’s decision to bench petulant native son Stephon Marbury while Knick management tries to budge his unmovable $21.9 million salary or negotiate a possible buyout is all the media rage. While the Knicks opened the season with a win over Miami, the tabloids focused around Marbury’s benching and D’Antoni’s frustrated verbal reaction to fans – thanks to TV replays and lip-readers – who chanted for exiled guard to be put in the game.

 After Marbury deactivated for losses to Philadelphia and Milwaukee, Tuesday’s press sessions with more than 20 local and national media dealt with: (1) Marbury, (2) swirling rumors of a rift between D’Antoni and general manager Donnie Walsh over Marbury and (3) Larry Brown, one of the many failed former Knick coaches of the James Dolan era who was coming to town with Charlotte.

 One scribe asked D’Antoni – three games into his tenure – that since Brown engaged in a battle with the Knicks to get all his money after he was fired if that was something that concerned him.

 “Welcome to my life,” D’Antoni said, shaking his head.

 The rest of the week went better. Walsh backed D’Antoni’s decision not to play Marbury, and that the benching was permanent. The Knicks beat Brown’s Bobcats and moved over .500 with Friday’s win over Washington. But with roster short on talent and long on overpaid malcontents (Marbury, Eddy Curry Jerome James), he knows the next controversy waits just around the corner

  D’Antoni said he hasn’t watched any Suns games and won’t because he’s too emotionally invested in the players.

  “I’m in a battle as it is. I can’t afford to lose any more adrenaline and get all worked up on that,” he said. “The team is good. I liked (rookie center Robin) Lopez, (Matt) Barnes will help a lot and they’ve done a lot of nice things.

 “I might watch some highlights and look at a box, score but I can’t watch the games.”

 D’Antoni is now all about turning around the Knicks, even though his current roster – weighed down with more plow horses than thoroughbreds – will have great trouble implementing his trademark style. Watching them practice last week, imagining them getting the ball across half court in seven seconds or less was a stretch.

 As D’Antoni is apt to say, “It is what it is.” He’s being paid $24 million for four years, so sympathy is in short supply. But there have been times when even he has looked back at the last six months and shaken his head.

 “About three weeks after (the Suns) lost to San Antonio, I was on a flight to going to New York and I turned to (his wife) Laurel and said ‘How did we get here?’ I don’t know it got to that. Probably too much emotion on my part … but whatever.

 “People are right when they say that when (the season) is over, coaches should take a month vacation and then come back and decide things. But you don’t always have that luxury. Decisions had to be made.”

 CHICAGO — As expected, Shaquille O’Neal will get his rest night tonight, leaving the Suns two starters short for their meeting with the Bulls at the United Center.

 O’Neal, who was supposed to rest Wednesday in Indiana, was pressed into service when Matt Barnes left the team to be present for the birth of his twin sons. The Suns want to rest him once on the trip, and feel the matchup against Milwaukee and Andrew Bogut is preferable. The Bulls don’t have a typical center and matchups with Drew Gooden and Tyrus Thomas aren’t as effective for the Suns.

 Grant Hill will make his second straight start for Barnes, who will also miss the Milwaukee game. He will rejoin the team in Phoenix for Monday’s game against Memphis.