GILAS Pilipinas is also in danger of being without the man responsible for ending the country’s six-decade gold medal drought in the Asian Games three years ago.
Not only is Justin Brownlee skipping this week’s FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers, but he's likely to be out, too, when Gilas defends its men's basketball gold medal at the 20th Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan.
COLUMN: More questions than answers over Brownlee unavailability
The health issue concerning the 38-year-old Brownlee is serious enough that Cone has warned about the possibility of the naturalized player sitting out the Asiad campaign as well.
“That’s still to be determined. We’re not sure yet,” said Cone, conscious about the team racing against time to have Brownlee come on board before it leaves on September 3 to play two friendlies in South Korea.
On Tuesday, Cone told SPIN.ph that it will take a 'miracle' to get Brownlee onboard for the Asiad title defense.
What’s certain is that Brownlee won’t be available for the FIBA window this weekend when the country battles Jordan (Friday) and Iran (Sunday) one after the other at the Mall of Asia Arena.
On Monday, Cone said the naturalized player is ‘not healthy enough to contribute’ to the Gilas cause.
A combination of hamstring and knee injuries has hampered the Barangay Ginebra import since the PBA Commissioner’s Cup playoffs.
Brownlee still managed to play against New Zealand during the third window of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers, a 106-102 loss in overtime, but opted to sit out the game against Australia three days later which ended in a 92-49 rout.
He went back to the US to rest and recover for this week’s window and skipped Ginebra’s first-round campaign in the season-ending Governors’ Cup.
Apparently, the more than eight-week break was not enough to keep the three-time PBA Best Import from going.
“We’re hoping he might be able to join the Asian Games, but he hasn’t confirmed that yet,” said Cone.
Brownlee’s legend further grew during his stint with Gilas in the 19th edition of the Asiad in Hangzhou, China when he led the national team back from 20-points down and past host China in a highly-emotional semifinal, 77-76.
The dramatic win was highlighted by Brownlee’s game-high 33 points including 17 in an explosive fourth quarter showing. He was 7-of-12 from beyond the arc and hit two pressure-packed three pointers in the final minute to complete the ‘Miracle in Hangzhou.’
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