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Barangay Ginebra's Justin Brownlee (32) celebrates after sinking a 3-pointer during Game 2 of the PBA Commissioner's Cup Finals Sunday at the MOA Arena.
(PBA Images)
MANILA, Philippines — Fatigued and sick? No problem for Justin Brownlee.
Barangay Ginebra's import stressed that he will power through long minutes and fatigue as he tries to will the Gin Kings to a championship over the TNT Tropang Giga.
Brownlee had a performance for the books in Game 2, scoring 35 points in the 71-70 win over TNT on Sunday.
He also had 11 rebounds, two blocks and a steal in more than 45 minutes of play.
After the game, Brownlee acknowledged that while tiredness and pain are part of the equation in the finals, he just “has to push through.”
“Fatigue is just something I'm trying not to worry about, and if I'm tired, I just have to push through it, just like everybody else on the team. I think at this point, when you reach the finals,” Brownlee said.
“Everybody gets a little fatigued and maybe has some aches and pains, but you can't really think about those things. You just got to push through it,” he added.
Ginebra head coach Tim Cone bared that Brownlee had been battling asthma and was sick the whole week.
Still, the team went to him as they tried to avoid the 2-0 hole.
“We just had a feeling tonight that Justin was feeling it. Justin was really moving, so we just kept feeding him and feeding him. It's like we fed the beast because he had that presence about him tonight,” he said.
“He was going to do what it took. We ran almost all of our offense through him because he was feeling it. We can't do that every night, but tonight was one of those nights where we felt he was feeling it,” he added.
The Gin Kings led by double digits in the first half, as they allowed TNT to score just four points in the second quarter.
But the Tropang Giga took the lead late, and free throws by Rondae Hollis-Jefferson pushed them ahead by three, 70-67.
Brownlee, though, made huge shots down the stretch as Ginebra held on.
“If it would have been a looser defense, if it would have been another team and not TNT, he probably would have had 50 or 60 tonight. He was like that kind of guy tonight. We went with him. Between him and the defense, it carried us to victory.”
And now that the series is all knotted up, Brownlee said that they are far from being happy.
“I mean, we definitely feel good about winning tonight and tying the series, but it's still no satisfaction right now,” he told reporters after their victory Sunday evening.
“I think we just got to stay hungry, especially with the past history. We know how good this team is, and they have beaten us before.
Low-scoring game. 71-70, so I think if we want to continue having success in this series, I think it's going to be very important we use all our effort we can on defense and just try to, I guess, make the game ugly.”
Game 3 is on Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
