Justin Brownlee (No. 32) appears to be like to rebound from a poor taking pictures efficiency in Recreation 2. —AUGUST DELA CRUZ
Barangay Ginebra has been round Justin Brownlee lengthy sufficient to know that the Gin Kings are well past hoping he bounces again from an terrible taking pictures night time.
They’re already anticipating it.
“He’s had robust nights prior to now,” mentioned coach Tim Cone after Brownlee missed 13 of his 16 makes an attempt, a surprising proportion that contributed to a irritating night time for Ginebra in Recreation 2 of the Philippine Basketball Affiliation Governors’ Cup Finals at Sensible Araneta Coliseum.
Brownlee completed with 12 factors and missed all his 5 pictures from past the arc as TNT made up for an iffy Recreation 1 displaying with a near-resounding 95-82 victory that knotted the collection at one recreation apiece.
Brownlee hit three free throws after being fouled by Matt Ganuelas-Rosser within the last seconds of the third to get to his 12 factors and spared the Ginebra import from being held to single digits for the primary time in his profession right here.
Brownlee has thus far performed 234 video games, scoring in twin digits every time.
However Cone disregarded Brownlee’s woes and expressed confidence that the man within the No. 32 jersey will present up with huge numbers for recreation No. 235 and restore Ginebra’s grip on the championship collection.
“I by no means fear about him having a tricky night time as a result of he all the time responds nicely,” Cone mentioned.
Sizzling begin
Brownlee had extra factors within the first quarter of Recreation 1—he had 17 to gasoline a scorching Ginebra begin en path to a 102-90 victory—than he had the entire of Recreation 2. The naturalized Filipino needs to duplicate that very same hearth when Ginebra and TNT break the collection impasse on Friday.
“I do know that I’m one of many leaders of the crew and I wish to guarantee that I get into a robust begin, give guys some confidence and work from there,” mentioned Brownlee.
The 2 groups conflict at 5:45 p.m. at Sensible Araneta Coliseum, with Brownlee anticipated to run via a protection committee, led by Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, aimed toward slowing him down.
RR Pogoy and Glenn Khobuntin had additionally been tasked to protect Brownlee within the first two video games of the title showdown and could also be referred to as upon to reprise their defensive roles.
However TNT is aware of stopping Brownlee is barely half the battle, with Ginebra’s native core of Christian Standhardinger, Scottie Thompson and Jamie Malonzo capable of choose up the slack when wanted.
“They (TNT) flipped the script on us [in Game 2] and it was a complete turnaround,” mentioned Cone. “It’s a collection and it’s not one recreation.”
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