NEW Zealand’s game plan against Gilas Pilipinas in the second window of the FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers was plain and simple.
Limit Justin Brownlee at all cost.
And having followed the letter to the hilt, the Tall Blacks came through with a 69-66 win over the Nationals in a low-scoring game played before a sellout crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena Thursday night.
READ: Strong, disciplined New Zealand survives last-gasp Gilas comeback
Coach Judd Flavell later disclosed that the Tall Blacks had to double team the 37-year-old Gilas naturalized player and give him different looks in an effort to keep him from loading the scores for the home team.
Brownlee ended up with just four points on 2-of-10 shooting alongside four turnovers in what was easily his lowest output for the national team in a major international tournament.
“He’s about 80 percent of our game plan,” said Flavell. “Whenever he’s on the floor, we know the ball is coming back to Brownlee
“He takes a lot of attention. He can score the basketball and he’s a true international scorer. So we just have to be in touch distance with him all the time. He’s involved in the actions so we want to make sure there’s always two guys on him and he got to see a lot of bodies.”
READ: No moral victories for Tim Cone after Gilas falls to New Zealand
The Tall Blacks rotated the likes of Jordan Ngatai, Reuben Ta Ngani, Max Darling, and Carli Davison in defending the prolific Barangay Ginebra import.
Brownlee’s four points erased his previous low of eight points against Saudi Arabia in last year’s FIBA Asia Cup.
“That was their assignment,” said Flavell of the New Zealand quartet.
“But it’s more than that though because Brownlee is a good facilitator and he does share the ball, so everybody has to be in their right spots. He’s a big part of the game plan for sure.”
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