Brownlee deflects credit in Ginebra victory

Dropping a new career scoring high was just a normal day at the office for Barangay Ginebra San Miguel resident import Justin Brownlee.

He downplayed his amazing 51-point explosion that lifted the Gin Kings past powerhouse San Miguel Beer, 108-102, in their Group B encounter in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup Tuesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

What matters for the three-time Best Import winner was Ginebra barging into the win column following a painful loss to start its campaign in the season-opening tournament.

“(I’m) Just happy. But you know I just want to keep on winning. We won the game and that’s what really matters,” Brownlee said as he bounced back from a so-so performance in his PBA return after more than a year.

Brownlee shot 18-of-29 from the field including the dagger basket off a strong drive to the hoop in the last 28.1 seconds that put the game away for good.

He grabbed 13 rebounds, had six steals and five assists for the Gin Kings.

It was a huge improvement following a rather quiet 18-point off 7-of-21 field goal shooting performance in the Ginebra’s 64-73 defeat at the hands of Rain or Shine in Candon, Ilocos Sur last Saturday.

Brownlee gave credit to his teammates for reaching a career milestone.

“My teammates did a great job, like coach (Tim Cone) said, they gave me open shots. They gave me the ball in comfortable areas. They got a lot of trust in me so I just tried to go out there and stay aggressive. Try to help our team as much as I can,” Brownlee said.

The 36-year-old naturalized Gilas Pilipinas player spent his time away from the PBA playing for Pelita Jaya, which he helped capture the 2024 Indonesian Basketball League crown.

“I think it helped me a lot in staying in shape and staying in rhythm. Growing up with that team in the IBL was great for me,” he said.

Cone lauded his trusted ward for his quick adjustment in his return to the team, which had seen a big shakeup in its roster in the offseason.

Brownlee had to learn to jell with new faces Stephen Holt, Isaac Go, Ben Adamos, and rookies RJ Abarrientos and Paul Garcia.

“I think Justin’s trying to find his way in what we’re doing because we have a lot of unfamiliar guys there,” Cone said.

“But RJ, Stephen and Isaac even Paul, they’re very unselfish players. They fit in what we do. We’re just trying to grow every game. I have to admit I’m a little bit surprised we beat them, this San Miguel. I just don’t know we’re at the level we want to be at yet. But we’ll get there. We just expect to continue to improve as we go along,” he added.

“But having the anchor of Justin, LA (Tenorio) and Japeth, the three veterans is huge for us. They show the way for everybody.”