The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel are on a seven-game winning streak. And with the way things are going, they are making it seem that they are operating at the highest of levels.
“We’re on top of the mountain so we’ve reached the peak,” beamed Ginebra head coach Tim Cone after the Barangay eliminated the Meralco Bolts 104-90, Wednesday evening.
“We’re playing pretty well, I always think we could get better but we’re playing pretty well.”
On the other hand, Brownlee begs to differ.
“I never want to be satisfied. I always want to get better,” said Brownlee, who averaged 30.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 2.5 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game in the series.
“I think we as a group are not satisfied. We’re trying to get better every day, every game, every minute, every possession. The hunger is getting better and we’re not satisfied.”
But Ginebra had to come a long way to get to this point.
Midway through the elimination round, the Gin Kings languished with a 1-5 slate capped by a crushing overtime loss to the San Miguel Beermen last June 3. With their backs against the wall, Ginebra needed to turn it up.
“It’s our aggression.
“Coach Tim, he didn’t like how we used to play. He wants us to be aggressive and play like we’ve been playing before, which is playing together and moving as one unit,” the 30-year-old American recalled. “First couple of games, I don’t think we had that. But now we got that, we’re moving us one. Everybody’s playing really well.”
Even if they are entering the semifinals as the fifth seed, the Gin Kings are seen as a top contender, with the way things are going. And it’s going to be a challenge for Brownlee and the Gin Kings to sustain their run as a best-of-five series is an althogether different beast.
“That’s going to be our biggest challenge. For sure winning, you can get a little bit complacent but I think the guys have doing a really good job not being complacent,” the two-time PBA champion pointed out.
“Going out there and still have an edge knowing that we playing something bigger than just one game. I guess we’re just try to keep that edge.”
