Justin Brownlee simply feels delighted now that he’s close to regaining his old form after going through adversity prior to his return to the Philippines.
Ginebra’s resident import disclosed that he suffered a left ankle injury during the tailend of his stint with Al Sharjah in the UAE National Basketball League.
“I tore three ligaments, two complete and one 75-percent torn,” the 33-year-old said. “To be honest, it was a battle just to get back to okay shape before I even got here.
“Just trying to work on that has been a long time.”
Brownlee shared that it happened around this time last year, so it took months and months of rehabilitation. Perhaps the silver lining to that tedious process, according to him, was that he no longer needed to go under the knife.
“I actually didn’t have to get surgery. I could have had it, but I talked to a few doctors, and they said I didn’t have to. So that was good,” he said.
The one-time Best Import’s rise from that situation is pretty evident with the way he’s been delivering as of late in the 2021-22 PBA Governors’ Cup.
It could be recalled that he erupted for 38 points and 12 rebounds in disarming TNT’s twice-to-beat edge in the quarterfinals, then followed it up with a 29-18-7 statline to completely blow the Tropang Giga’s advantage.
And in Game One of their semis clash with NLEX Wednesday, Brownlee scattered 27 points, 14 rebounds, six assists, a game-high four blocks, and a steal to lead the Gin Kings to the come-from-behind 94-80 win.
Ginebra head coach Tim Cone is, of course, proud to see the American winger “starting to get to where he wants to be right now.”
Photo by PBA Images
“I know people made a big deal about playoff Brownlee, like suddenly he steps it up because it’s the playoffs. And yes there’s a little bit of that, but generally, it’s the fact that — in my mind, anyway — he’s just getting in better shape,” offered the 23-time champion mentor.
“Right now, to me, he’s starting to peak at this point — in terms of shape, in terms of game.
“And when you have him in the last six minutes of a basketball game… I mean he blocked shots, he got rebounds, he made shots, he made free throws. He’s an incredible closer, and always has been for us. That’s his reputation,” he continued.
Brownlee admitted that he was far from his usual playing weight when he got here, thus the satisfaction on his part that he’s getting there.
“When I first got here in the Philippines, I was about 240 pounds,” he said. “The last time I checked my weight was around 223, so about 15 or 16 pounds. The last time I checked was about a couple of weeks ago.”
“Probably around that. Maybe even more now. Maybe even closer than 20,” he added.
“Feeling better, feeling more like before the pandemic.”
But being the team player he is, the four-time champ said that it’s also the whole Barangay that’s been clicking at the right time altogether, leading to the desired results — Ginebra is now up 1-0 in the race-to-three series.
“Luckily, it’s just good timing. Not only myself, the team’s playing well, clicking well,” said Brownlee. “We got a good rhythm, we got a good defensive mindset, so I think that’s been really helpful for us.”
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