JUSTIN Brownlee was without a doubt the headliner for Barangay Ginebra’s closeout win, but it was Jeff Chan who put the Kings in a position to win Game Four.
Chan scored 20 points while draining 5-of-8 three-pointers, providing the early momentum in a 112-93 win over NLEX that enabled Ginebra to claim a ticket to the PBA 46th Season Governors’ Cup Finals.
Chan gave a spark to the Gins at a time when a couple of their key players led by Stanley Pringle are out due to injuries. And he did it against a team led by his longtime coach at Rain or Shine, Yeng Guiao.
“Jeff is a forgotten man,” said Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone. “It’s funny. He was like the forgotten man, holding on, just looking to play here and there. And he just steps up when we need him. He stepped up and he just played huge.”
'He kept us in the game'
Cone noted the importance of Chan’s baskets in the first quarter after NLEX jumped out to an early nine-point lead.
“I thought his couple of threes in the beginning of the game when NLEX came out with so much fire and jumped ahead of us and Jeff hit a couple of big threes to kinda settle the whole team down, keep us in the game.
“I think that might have been the key to the whole game. Otherwise, NLEX would have blown us out without those clutch shots by Jeff,” said Cone.
Cone said he is managing the minutes of the 39-year-old Chan to make the most of his time on the floor.
“I tried to bring him in and out of the game. I didn’t want to extend him because it’s tough for him to play at a real physical level of 10, 12 minutes at a time," he said. "We try to shorten his minutes and get him in and out and keep him fresh."
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