BIG credit goes to Don Trollano who had the unenviable task of defending and limiting the prolific Justin Brownlee in Game Three of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals between TnT Katropa and Barangay Ginebra on Tuesday night.
Trollano helped limit last year’s Best Import to his lowest output this conference at 14, although Brownlee managed to extricate himself in the final quarter when he scored eight points to power the Kings to a hard-earned 80-72 win fashioned out before a big weekday crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Until his mini scoring in the fourth period, Trollano had Brownlee misfiring for three quarters and held to just six points.
From the surface, it appeared as easy as A-B-C. But Trollano said it was not.
“Actually hindi ko na nga maramdaman yung legs ko, ang hirap bantayan ni Brownlee kasi kaya niyang umiskor kahit saang posisyon,” said the TnT Katropa guard.
“Pero stay lang sa harapan niya, gawin lang mahirap para sa kanya, ok na ako dun.”
Trollano also had to work double time at the other end, scoring buckets and rebounding the ball for the Katropa. He finished a point short of a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.
Just too bad, the Katropa failed to finish off the Kings, although they still lead the best-of-five series, 2-1.
“Nanalo sila, nagka-kumpiyansa sila,” said the Adamson guard, who added it’s back to the drawing boards for the Katropa.
But Trollano hopes TnT will finally be able to pull this off in Game Four set Thursday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“Ganun talaga. Bawi na lang kami next game. Ganun talaga ang basketball,” he said.
And expect no let-up from Trollano especially with him taking on Brownlee anew.
“Of course, trabaho ko ganun. So kahit saang game makikita nyo yun (aggressiveness) ko,” said the former Adamson guard.
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