Sunday night at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum was one of the most memorable Sundays for Barangay Ginebra import Justin Brownlee. He went off for 34 points, knocked down huge triples, and willed his team to victory.
And most of all, he had it all in his hands during his birthday.
“It’s my 29th birthday,” declared a beaming Brownlee moments after their 107-89 win over the TNT Katropa, which marks their fourth win in a row since losing their opening match to Phoenix last April 1.
“I’m not too familiar in my past games if I won or lost anything but this birthday was definitely a special one, the way the team embraced me,” the Tifton, Georgia native confessed.
In the Gin Kings’ current string of wins, the celebrant is clearly their unquestioned leader, with steady norms of 24.6 points and 11.0 rebounds. Sunday night’s 34-point outburst serves as his conference-high so far.
However, the Barangay are now off to a tough challenge — long breaks in between assignments. After a 14-day layoff from Sunday, they will go head-to-head with Alaska, and 12 days later with Rain or Shine.
But for the soft-spoken Brownlee, the hero of the 2016 Governor’s Cup title run, he sees the long breaks not as a detriment, but more of an advantage, fully confident that it will only help sharpen themselves more.
“Not playing maybe can throw you off your rhythm a little bit, but I’m sure we’re going to be practicing. We still got a lot to grow. The good thing is we haven’t hit our ceiling — we’re still getting better and better. I think with the days we don’t play, it allows us to just only get better.
“If we continue to go with coach Tim [Cone’s] game plan, and stay fundamental on both ends of the court, we’ll be okay,” Brownlee declared.
