A MOTIVATED Justin Brownlee is what Gilas Pilipinas can expect from the naturalized player especially after the Barangay Ginebra import ended up on the losing end of the PBA 49th Season Governors’ Cup Finals against TNT.
Gilas coach Tim Cone said he knows Brownlee well enough to expect an impressive performance , albeit in a FIBA environment, after his domestic team settled for second place after losing to the Tropang Giga in six games.
“I think you are going to see a really motivated Justin coming into this New Zealand (game),” Cone said.
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Brownlee was noticeably far from the usual form that people have grown accustomed to from the three-time Best Import, raising questions that the Barangay Ginebra import may have been dealing with injuries during the finals.
But Cone assured that Brownlee is healthy and only needed rest following a grueling playoff run in the Governors’ Cup.
“He struggled, we all struggled in the series. People started thinking that he was having injuries or not. It was just a tough, long playoff going through Meralco and San Miguel. And then having to go against Talk ‘N Text and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. It was a tough road,” said Cone.
“We kinda limped to the finish line. Everybody saw us limping and assumed that’s the way we are, generally,” said Cone.
Cone said Brownlee had ample rest of a week before going back to training for the Gilas games against New Zealand on Thursday and Hong Kong on Sunday.
“Talking to him after the finals, he is highly-motivated. When you see Justin highly-motivated, we’ve seen him highly-motivated in the past and what he could do. I don’t think anybody has anything to fear about Justin. He is ready. He is ready to go. I think he is going to put up some real nice performances for the country coming up,” said Cone.
“When I have a motivated Justin, watch out,” Cone added.
Cone admitted he, too, is motivated as he wasn’t happy with the way he coached in the TNT finals, but he thinks that Brownlee’s level of desire to bounce back is much higher than his.
“He is not exactly happy with the way he played. I’m not happy with the way we played. I’m not happy with the way I coached. I got into a lot of uncomfortable situations during that finals that were uncomfortable to me that was forced on me because of the way Talk ‘N Text was playing... I’m motivated to bounce back but even more so, Justin is more motivated to bounce back. And I’m looking forward to that,” said Cone.
Cone braces for tough outing
Cone, however, warned that being motivated is only half the battle as Gilas is in for a tough outing in the window especially against New Zealand, which is ranked No. 22 in the world and No. 3 in the FIBA Asia zone.
“Bottom line is I think Justin is going to be ready to play. That doesn’t mean he puts up big numbers. That means he is going to be locked in to what we do, get his teammates involved, and play the game the right way, which he does 99 percent of the time,” Cone said.
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