BARANGAY Ginebra coach Tim Cone was worried his team had become too ‘Justin Brownlee-centric’ after he scored 32 points, or 33 percent of the Gin Kings’ entire points in a 106-98 Game Four loss to TNT in the PBA 50th Season Commissioner’s Cup Finals.
Cone may have to reconsider that statement after Brownlee’s epic performance on Friday night.
Brownlee marvelled once again, hitting a career-high 54 points, this time more than half of the squad’s production, in Ginebra’s 100-95 overtime victory over TNT that enabled the Gin Kings to grab a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven title series.
“What did I say after the last game? I think I said we shouldn’t be so Justin-centric. And what happens? He comes out and hits 54 tonight,” said Cone.
“Goes to show what I know,” Cone added grinning.
Cone was glad that Brownlee was able to churn such numbers on their way to victory despite how TNT is defending the Ginebra import.
TNT has been doing single coverage on Brownlee against a smaller defender, mostly against RR Pogoy, forcing Ginebra to play him one-on-one, mostly on the low block, to capitalize on the mismatch.
That, however, has led to the locals led by Best Player of the Conference winner RJ Abarrientos and former PBA MVP Scottie Thompson producing a lot less on offense.
“The way they are defending us, they’re putting pressure on Justin to win games by himself,” Cone said. “They are putting a guy on that Justin knows he can attack and they are denying out on everybody else, really forcing Justin to go one-on-one and do his thing.
“We really have no recourse but to allow it to happen. Otherwise, we are not going to get anything done. It’s really the way they are defending. That’s why I’m saying that we have to figure out a different way because the whole point, just like Yeng Guiao stated in the last series, is to wear Justin down where he is no longer effective in Game 6 and Game 7. That’s why I’m saying that we can’t be Justin-centric,” Cone added.
On this night, however, Barangay Ginebra will gladly take the win with Brownlee carrying most of the load.
“When it comes to winning, you do what you have to do to win. And this was a big game,” said Cone.
Cone admitted he felt Ginebra was headed towards defeat in Game 5 with the way they were playing.
“The thing I like about this game besides Justin’s performance (was) we had a lot of things that didn’t work well for us tonight. We had a lot of problems. We missed lay-ups, missed a lot of inside shots, we had a turnover down the stretch that was painful. We fell behind and played behind,” said Cone.
“In Game 1, a lot of things worked well for us. Game 3, a lot went well for us. Game 5, a lot of things didn’t go well for us and we had to really show the grit to win this game. And of course, it was led by (Justin),” he added.
“What a performance. We really overcame a lot of stuff today. (It) didn't look like it was our night. But we made it our night just through our grit. I’m really proud of our guys in that regard,” said Cone.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
