CHRIS Newsome is not only playing for Meralco again but making himself available to Gilas Pilipinas as well.
And that meant sharing the same court with Barangay Ginebra rival Justin Brownlee as teammates if and when he makes the national team’s final lineup for the sixth window of the FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers.
“Yeah playing with him and not against him,” said Newsome of the possibility of teaming up with the resident import of the Kings.
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“It’s always nice to be teammates with someone who has accomplished so much,” he added. “Whenever we're on the court, we’ll always compete. But whenever you’re teammates, you’re looking forward to that even more.”
Newsome and Brownlee of course, go back a long way because of the Barangay Ginebra-Meralco rivalry.
Brownlee and the Kings have time and again denied Newsome and the Bolts a first-ever championship, beating them in all four title showdown in the past, the last of which happened just last year during the Governors’ Cup Finals.
But the two found themselves on the same side when they were both named to the 24-man pool drawn by coach Chot Reyes for Gilas home games against Lebanon and Jordan on Feb. 24 and 27, respectively at the Philippine Arena.
Too bad, Newsome didn’t show up in Gilas Pilipinas’ first practice last Monday as he opted to take a day off.
“It was an off day for me since I rest and recovered. But I already communicated that with coach Chot,” he said.
“But coach Chot knows that I’m committed to Gilas. It’s just about balancing out my recovery process with Gilas practices,” added Newsome, who is coming off a left calf strain that kept him out for the entire Commissioner’s Cup.

He’s looking forward to showing up in the national team’s practice the next time around as he finally get to play alongside Brownlee, now a certified Filipino citizen after his naturalization papers were formally signed by the President.
“JB is in that lineup now, so I’m excited to suit up with him, practice with him, learn as much as I can from him,” said the player considered as the cornerstone of Meralco.
“He has a lot of experience, and he’s one of the best imports that I’ve played against. I’m just going to be a sponge and try to absorb as much information and knowledge from JB that I can.”
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