JUSTIN Brownlee was man enough to accept the blame after Ginebra's 114-109 overtime loss to Meralco in the PBA Governors' Cup finals opener on Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Brownlee had little success trying to stop Meralco import Allen Durham, who exploded for 46 points on top of 13 rebounds, seven assists, and two blocks as the Bolts beat Ginebra for the first time this season.
"I give a lot of credit to Allen Durham, he played really well. He's a tough guy to stop," said Brownlee moments after the loss. "Mainly, I would take the blame because Allen had a great game ... I take a lot of blame for that."
[See Tenorio rues porous Ginebra defense as 36-point game goes for naught]
To make matters worse, the usually prolific Ginebra reinforcement failed to fire while being hounded by Meralco's defense. He finished with only 17 points in a little over 47 minutes of action.
"They really played well on defense forcing me to pass the ball," he said. "I think I should’ve been more aggressive, they had a good defense forcing me, I didn’t get into any rhythm tonight."
But the former St. John's University standout vowed it won't happen again.
"It's gonna be very different. We’re gonna come out a lot harder, come out and defend especially on Allen Durham," he said. "For this series, you have to defend him better. That’s gonna be the biggest key for us, defensively."
[See MVP wary of Game Two fightback by 'hungry' Ginebra]
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