JUSTIN Brownlee is human, after all.
The ever-affable resident Barangay Ginebra import showed he’s not immune to emotion after losing his cool following a foul from Chris Lalata late in the Gin Kings’ 101-93 loss to Phoenix in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup on Friday night at the Big Dome.
Driving to the baseline off a post-up halfway through the fourth quarter, Brownlee drew what he felt was an unnecessary facial contact from the rookie big man, prompting him to blow his top.
Why Justin Brownlee lost his cool
“Those kind of things, as a man or a person, somebody just hits you in the face, apparently for … not good reasons, it causes some emotion and some frustration,” the 34-year-old import said. “So that’s all it was.”
“As a person, I’m sure nobody likes to just get slapped in the face even though it wasn’t a hard slap or anything like that,” he added. “Just getting hit in the face whether it’s hard or not, I think it just caused that reaction.”
“There’s no harm afterwards. Just a heat-of-the-moment type of thing. Congrats to Phoenix,” he continued.
The incident at the five-minute, 32-second mark of the payoff period resulted in technical fouls to both sides apart from Lalata’s personal foul.
Although Brownlee was quick to bounce back in the ensuing play by dishing an assist to a Scottie Thompson three-pointer that cut the Phoenix lead to just five, 96-91, the well-loved import still felt it didn’t have to come to him losing his temper.
“It’s definitely unlike myself, but you know, those things happen,” Brownlee said. “You just got to learn how to control emotions. Can’t get a technical foul. That was a big thing right there.”
“Just got to move forward and just control that and hopefully it don’t happen again,” he added.
Lalata, the 16th overall pick in this year's draft, declined to grant an interview after the game.