WITH one of the greatest imports in PBA history on the other side of the bench, Jaylen Johnson put on probably his best performance in a Rain or Shine uniform.
Johnson finished with 40 points, 19 rebounds, three assists and three steals as he led the Elasto Painters to a thrilling 115-111 win over Ginebra in Game 1 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals on Wednesday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
Facing someone who his head coach in Yeng Guiao described as ‘GOAT import’ in Justin Brownlee, it was Johnson who dominated – and got the last laugh after hitting a huge four to stop Ginebra’s momentum late in the game.
“He stepped up to the moment,” Guiao said of his import. “To be able to stand up and be able to go toe-to-toe with Justin Brownlee is already a big achievement tapos tinalo pa namin. Nakakabilib lang. Nakakabilib lang na he’s that kind of a player.”
With his big game, Johnson made up for a rough 16 point night in his first meeting with Ginebra – eclipsing his previous total just before halftime, before finishing strong by dropping 15 in the final quarter where the Elasto Painters exploded for 41 points.
But his big game wasn’t about making up for that loss, it wasn’t even about proving a point against Brownlee and Ginebra – it was simply knowing what’s at stake.
I don’t ever want to lose any game. I know what’s at stake right now. I know time is of the essence and I know we have to get to it. My whole motivation is to win, championship. That’s my biggest motivation. Everything else was in the past.
“Justin Brownlee I can’t say anything more about him, he's a great player. I’ve been focusing on this game but we haven’t done anything yet. We’ve got three more and ultimately the championship but it was a great game, it was a hard-fought game, shoutout to them.”
What made this game truly special for Johnson was doing at the Ynares Center with 10,412 people in attendance filling the venue to the rafters.
Known as an entertainer on the floor, Johnson fed off the energy of the crowd even when the majority of those people in attendance were rooting against them.
While he’s amazed with the number of people supporting Ginebra, he hopes some of those jump ship to the Bayan ng RoS bandwagon.
“It’s always fun. I love the fans. I love the crowd. This is what we’re doing it for, you feel me? Just having fun out there. They’re making it even better. Shout out to all the fans for sure,” he said.
“Ginebra got all the fans though, they got it all man. Some of ya’ll come with us.”
Still, Johnson knows this series is far from over and he promises to stay on his toes until they finally get the job done.
“It wasn’t easy. Shoutout to them. They’re a hard team over there. We got to go back to the drawing board and prepare for Game 2,” Johnson said.
“It’s gonna be even harder. It’s time to lock in. Rest our bodies and focus up. That’s a great team, we got to go back to the drawing board and do what we got to do.”
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