MANILA, Philippines — As always, Tim Cone doesn’t seem to run out of superlatives for Barangay Ginebra’s resident import Justin Brownlee following the Gin Kings’ grind-it-out 99-84 win over the San Miguel Beermen to regain the PBA Season 49 Governor’s Cup semifinal series lead, 2-1 on Sunday.
Cone is beaming at the fact that Brownlee, now playing his eighth season for Ginebra as import, continues to surprise him, his teammates and the team’s legion of fans for his cerebral plays that enabled the Gin Kings to outlast the Beermen.
“Justin really has a way of picking his spots,” Cone told sports writers after the big win to move within two victories of advancing to the Finals. “It’s just like he has a way to pick his spots, and really make big plays offensively, and he has the same way at doing it defensively.”
Though Ginebra blew an 11-point lead in the third canto and trailed, 60-67, Brownlee took charge when it mattered most, while Japeth Aguilar and Stephen Holt came through with big plays as well in the final period to lock in the team’s second win en route to gaining control of the series.
“It just seems to happen on big moments. He’s just a big moment guy,” Cone said of the 36-year-old Brownlee, a three-time PBA Best Import. “That’s his history, the way he has been and he’s just been really incredibly consistent for who he is.”
But as a team, Cone stressed that to be able to beat a powerhouse squad like San Miguel, Ginebra will definitely need to come out each game with “playoff defense” in order to beat the Beermen.
“We defended so much better and we played playoff defense. That was the key,” shared the 66-year-old Cone.
Ginebra could have been with a 3-0 bulge in the series, if not for a tough Game 2 loss that saw Cone’s charges yield to the Beermen, 131-125 in overtime.
But then again, the American mentor said there’s no used to crying over spilled milk, so to speak.
“It’s something we don’t dwell on,” Cone said, on that Game 2 defeat where SMB gunner Terrence Romeo finished with 26 points on 5-of-5 shooting from downtown. “I don’t think it’s a healthy thing to dwell on. “There’s a real art at moving on when it comes to basketball and sports. That’s a real valuable tool even in life that we can learn from sports.”
“Whether we lose or we win, we have to be ready to move to the next game. No matter what happens to you, you find a way to move forward, whether it’s a good thing or bad thing, you have to focus on what’s ahead of you,” he explained. “We don’t want to dwell on what we should’ve or could’ve or would’ve. The bottomline is where we are right now, that’s what we gonna deal with.”
