JUSTINE Brownlee is in the PBA Governors Cup finals for the third time in the last four seasons.
This one’s much different.
With the PBA Finals series not starting until after holiday season, the Barangay Ginebra import has no choice but to spend his first Christmas and New Year celebration in the country.
He has no regrets, though.
“I’m enjoying it, man. I love the excitement around Christmas here. A lot of Christmas lights, a lot of Christmas carols, and things like that,” said Brownlee as his eyes lit up talking about the experience. “Even the gifts, from the team, coaching staff, and everybody. It’s been great. I love being here. I definitely feel that Christmas spirit.”
And then there’s the sumptuous Filipino food.
“Lots of sweets. Some lots of good sweets,” added the former Best Import. “I got to be careful or else I would gain too much weight.”
And so the focus is to stay in shape and locked in as the Kings made the finals ahead of everybody after disposing NorthPort Batang Pier in four games of their semifinal series.
It’s a different kind of situation the Kings and Brownlee are facing this time compared when they made the season-ending finals and win it all in back-to-back fashion in 2016 and 2017.
“It’s kind of tricky because you don’t want to get out of shape too much. You want to stay focused and locked in because it’s the finals,” he said.
“I don’t think we have ever done this, have an extended break in the semis, and now in the finals,” added Brownlee. “We just want to try to stay focus, try not to lose the mentality we got right now, and hope not to take too many day-offs now.”
The best-of-seven title series will start on Jan. 8 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
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