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ANTIPOLO, Rizal -- Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone admitted that he thought prized import Justin Brownlee will be unable to return to their PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals series after sustaining a thumb injury.
Brownlee exited Game 3 of their best-of-seven championship series on Wednesday due to a thumb injury that he had to be brought to the hospital for.
He was a game-time decision in Game 4, but he eventually started the contest.
Despite playing with a heavily taped right hand, Brownlee scored 16 points in the first half alone and finished with a double-double of 23 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and two blocks in 45 minutes and 32 seconds of play.
After the game, Cone said that he thought that the 36-year-old winger “was out for the series.”
“I'll be absolutely honest. I thought, from what I saw and what I heard, that there was no way that Justin was going to play today. None. And I thought he was out for the series,” he told reporters.
Cone bared that Brownlee’s thumb “falls out” and “automatically dislocates” if the tape comes out, and that they floated the idea of tapping Ange Kouame and even TNT Tropang Giga import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson’s brother, Rahlir, to possibly take the import’s place.
And with the way he played, Cone was all praises.
“So I've got to give RC [Cua] and the training group a huge thank you because they got him in a position where they could put a tape in and secure that thumb. But I still didn't think he was going to play. And then what does he do? He gets player of the game. I mean, amazing,” he said.
“He's not only just a great player, but he's such a warrior… What a warrior he is to come out and play tonight. I didn't think he had any chance at all to play tonight. And he not only played, but he played like this.
“I really haven't seen anything that amazing in my career, in my 35 years, in 36 years, seeing a guy have that kind of injury and come back and be able to play at the kind of level he's played at. Kudos to him,” he added.
Brownlee, for his part, said that once the training staff got his thumb stable, “I knew I could play.”
“I think the only problem was I had, the only doubt I had was just if the thumb just keep falling out of place and it's not stable. But like I said, the staff, they did a great job of keeping it stable,” he said.
“I want to be aggressive.I want to continue trying to play like I've been playing. I definitely had doubt as far as the tape. It's a different feel yesterday and before the game, today, I got a good feel for it. I think I got the hang of it. I don't want to jinx myself, but I kind of got a good feel for it now.”
But aside from Brownlee, Cone also lauded the other members of the team for stepping up.
Jamie Malonzo finished with a game-high 24 points on an efficient 8-of-11 shooting from the field, including 6-of-8 from deep.
He also tipped his hat to Stephen Holt, who had 12 points but also defended TNT's Hollis-Jefferson for the most part of the game.
“Jamie stepped up, made some huge, huge shots for us. He and Stephen did a great job defending RHJ tonight. We played a really good defensive game and we got our offense going a little bit,” he said.
“Hopefully we can continue that into the next game. Hopefully we can continue to minister Justin and get him through the series.”
The coveted 3-2 series lead will be at stake in Game 5 on Sunday, 7:30 p.m., at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
