ANTIPOLO City – Justin Brownlee may be playing through the pain right now on his injured thumb, but he isn’t ruling out undergoing surgery once the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals is over.
The Barangay Ginebra import mentioned he’s likely to go under the knife in order to put his thumb back in place, which coach Tim Cone described as ‘literally falling down’ once the tape is taken out.
“It looks like it. Maybe so,” said Brownlee, who played as if he’s not hurting after steering the Kings to a 95-78 win over TNT in Game 4 on Friday night at the Ynares Center.
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Before the operation, the 36-year-old import will have the hand checked by a specialist, according to coach Tim Cone.
“We’ll just have to see a hand specialist at the end of it all,” added Cone.
Although the injured hand was heavily taped, Brownlee played his usual game and submitted impressive numbers of 23 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, and 2 block shots.
His numbers were actually even better than those of newly-minted Best Import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who was held to his lowest output in the title series with 14 points on 5-of-18 shooting from the floor.
The series is now tied at 2-2 with Game 5 set at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday.
Certainly, that’s another concern for Cone and the rest of the Kings as Brownlee tries to play through the pain again.
“We’ll just handle things as we go,” said Cone.
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