WITH nothing going right for coach Tim Cone and Barangay Ginebra, they once again had to rely on big-time performances from their stars to try and salvage Game 1 of the PBA 50th Season Commissioner’s Cup finals in the face of a red-hot TNT rally.
Luckily for Cone and the thousands of Gin Kings diehards in attendance, they happen to not only have one, but two brilliant closers in the form of Justin Brownlee and RJ Abarrientos who took it home for the crowd darlings in the endgame.
READ: Brownlee banks in winner as Ginebra beats TNT in Game 1 thriller
Abarrientos drained two big four-pointers before Brownlee – like he’s done countless times in the past – sunk the dagger by draining a tough fadeaway jumper over Chris McCullough with 0.6 seconds left to lift Ginebra to a pulsating 102-100 win over the Tropang 5G on Friday.
“Down the stretch, we were out of rhythm offensively, I admit, but the team made some big plays,” Brownlee said after finishing with 23 points and eight rebounds.
“RJ made two big four-pointers and in the last shot, we ran the familiar play that we were running over the years. Coach Tim put the trust in me to make a play down the stretch at the end of the game. Fortunately, I made it and got the win.”
All on Abarrientos
While Brownlee ultimately stole the headlines for winning the game for the Gin Kings, the Gilas Pilipinas naturalized player deflected all credit to Abarrientos, who steadied the ship when TNT came alive in the fourth.
Down by three, 92-95, Abarrientos sank back-to-back four pointers, as Ginebra retook control of the game, 100-97.
RR Pogoy drained a clutch three-pointer at the other end to tie the tally with 10 seconds left, but that only set the stage for Brownlee’s oh-so-familiar heroics.
Brownlee himself, however, would be the first to admit he wouldn’t have been in the position to win the game if not for Abarrientos.
“He’s a special player. That’s what special players do. You can't coach some of the things that he does, he’s got a big heart,” he said.
“He made some huge, huge four-pointers. Without those four-pointers down the stretch, we probably wouldn’t recover. I give a lot of credit to him. He's been playing unbelievable this conference. He’s just a joy to play with.”
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