Ginebra has been playing the role of streakbusters after ending the remaining unbeaten streak in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup on Sunday night.
After the erstwhile 4-0 Bay Area, the Barangay added Magnolia to its list of victims following a 103-97 come-from-behind victory to deal the Hotshots their first loss after starting the mid-season joust with five consecutive wins.
Asked if there’s a switch of sorts for the Gin Kings whenever they lock horns with big teams, Justin Brownlee thinks otherwise.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a switch,” he said shortly after the match at the Mall of Asia Arena. “We do get, of course, naturally as a player or athlete competing, the bigger teams, you get more amped up for ’em.
“But, you know, we are Ginebra. There’s a gift and a curse that comes with that,” the five-time champion added. “As far as, you know, everybody loves us and things like that, we have the fans and the crowd. But, we also have to understand that every team, no matter if they are one of the top teams or one of the lower teams as far as the rankings, they’re always gonna bring that A-game and play their hearts out.
“We just gotta be ready for that no matter who the opponent is.”
Brownlee and Co. did witness Magnolia bring their A-game in another chapter of the Manila Clasico affair, going up by as high as 15 twice.
But the two-time Best Import himself didn’t want to suffer another loss as he had in the last three years, leading the comeback before scoring Ginebra’s last six points to apply the finishing touches to their third win of the tilt.
“We just gotta give credit to the team, you know, the coaches sticking with us, knowing that we were struggling and a little bit out of rhythm,” said Brownlee, who finished with 26 points, eight rebounds, and 12 assists.
“But we just stayed in with our defense, and got a good rhythm. The crowd got behind us, gave us that NSD spirit and we just came away with the win,” he added as over 12,000 fans trooped to the venue to witness the duel.
Brownlee hopes that the triumph over the erstwhile league leaders would stabilize what has been an up-and-down campaign for the crowd darlings.
(C) PBA Images
“I hope so. I was expecting that with the Bay Area game, where I had a really good game and we won that game, and I tried to gain some momentum from that game. But unfortunately, the Phoenix game, I had a bad game,” he said.
“Just trying to keep growing every single day, every possession, every practice, and every opportunity I get, I try to get better and just focus on the growth and hopefully the rhythm comes and stays in, we can gain some momentum.”
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