Justin Brownlee isn’t ruled out for Game 4 of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals even if Ginebra has yet to know the extent of his hand injury.
The three-time Best Import is listed as doubtful for Friday’s match, giving the impression that there remains a possibility he could see action.
“Justin is doubtful to play but he hasn’t been ruled completely out yet,” the champion mentor wrote in a short message to Tiebreaker Times Thursday.
Cone and the Kings have yet to receive the doctor’s diagnosis on the 36-year-old, who got hurt in their eventual loss to TNT in Game 3 Wednesday.
Brownlee reportedly suffered a dislocated right thumb, which he sustained at the 6:54-mark of the third quarter and with his team trailing by a point, 59-58.
#WATCH: Justin Brownlee is taken out of the Philsports Arena and into an ambulance for a hospital checkup on his hand injury 🏀
📹 @justinebacnis /Tiebreaker Times#PBA2025 pic.twitter.com/mUcBvbenn2
— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) March 19, 2025
His hand, per broadcast replays, slammed onto the Philsports Arena hardwood when he dove for the ball after Rey Nambatac momentarily lost possession.
Play was stopped about 12 seconds later and he was brought into the dugout shortly after being attended to by the team staff on the bench.
Brownlee would get sent to the hospital for further assessment of his injury, reducing Ginebra to an all-Filipino unit that eventually fell short, 87-85.
He left the match with 19 points, four rebounds, and six assists, spoiling what could have been another big outing from him like what he had in Game 2 in which he dropped 35 & 11 to help his side tie the series at one game apiece.
The Barangay are now down 2-1 in the race-to-4 affair, making Game 4 at the Ynares Center in Antipolo all the more important for the crowd darlings.
