TIM Cone admitted it was un-Justin Brownlee-like for the Barangay Ginebra import in Game Two of the PBA Governors Cup finals as TNT held the team’s resident reinforcement to a conference-low 12 points in a 95-82 loss Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Cone on Justin Brownlee struggles
Cone said Rondae Hollis-Jefferson did give Brownlee a "tough night" as the Gilas Pilipinas naturalized player didn’t score in the fourth quarter and held to his worst three-point shooting in a game behind a 0-of-5 clip from the field.
“Hollis-Jefferson did a great job of defending him. We’re surprised with his defense. So we’ll look at the video and try to figure out things we can do to get him open,” said Cone.
As a consolation, the 34-year-old Ginebra import grabbed 10 rebounds and had eight assists, but shot 3-of-16 from the field, including scoreless from beyond the arc which ended his streak of 77 straight games with at least one three-point basket converted dating back to the 2019 Governors’ Cup.
But the good thing is, Brownlee also had tough nights in the past, and yet managed to bounce back in the next game.
And Cone expects the same thing from the prolific import in the coming games of the best-of-seven series now tied at 1-1.
“I never worried about him having a tough night because he responds always for us,” said the Ginebra coach.
“We’re not worried about Justin. He’s the last of our worries.”
Cone did express disappointment too, with how the Kings came out flat for the game following a dominant 102-90 win in the series opener.
“We have to play with a little more discipline and come out with a little bit more fire than we did today,” he said. “We’re certainly disappointed, no doubt about it. But it’s a series and it’s not one game. When you lose by one point, when you lose by 15 points, you lose by 30 points, it’s all just about losing.”
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