Brownlee effort gets rewarded
JUSTIN Brownlee has emerged as one of the best players who competed in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Riga, Latvia.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF fiba
Daily TribuneJUSTIN Brownlee has emerged as one of the best players who competed in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Riga, Latvia.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF fiba
Gilas Pilipinas standout Justin Brownlee earned a well-deserved reward for his hard work after being named in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying All-Star Five in Riga, Latvia.
The naturalized player was instrumental in bringing Gilas into the semifinal albeit falling short of securing a spot in the Paris Olympics and ending a 52-year Summer Games absence.
Brownlee’s efforts for the Tim Cone-mentored team, however, did not go unnoticed as he was honored in the elite list along with Latvia’s Rihards Lomazs, Cameroonian Jeremiah Hill, and Brazil’s Leo Meindl and Bruno Caboclo, who eventually won the Most Valuable Player award for leading his country into the Olympics opening on 26 July.
Brownlee, a three-time Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Best Import winner, was the heart and soul of Gilas throughout the tournament, averaging a tournament-high 23 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 6.3 assists in three games.
The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel reinforcement was unstoppable in Gilas’ opening game when he flirted with a triple-double of 26 points, nine rebounds and nine assists in a stunning upset over world No. 6 Latvia, 89-80, in Group A.
With just 20 hours of rest after beating the Latvians in front of their home crowd, Brownlee dropped 28 points, grabbed nine boards and dished out nine assists in the Philippines’ close, 94-96, loss over Georgia which was enough to seal its place in the semifinal.
However, the Brazilians were able to slow down Brownlee to just 15 points on a horrendous 5-of-16 field goal shooting to put an end to Gilas’ Cinderella run with a 71-60 victory.
“I’m not proud of the way I played, I didn’t really have a good game, I know I could play better. I felt like I let my teammates down by the way I played so [I’m] definitely not happy,” Brownlee said in an interview with One Sports in Riga following the loss to the world No. 12 Brazil.
Still, Brownlee relished the big opportunity to carry the nation’s flag and put the Philippines back on the world basketball map as Gilas proved it now stands toe-to-toe with European and South American powerhouse squads.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity though and I’m happy the way we played and still battled even though we were down, we showed pride. I’m happy for the future for the Gilas program,” he added.