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SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
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04
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20
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2024
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SERVICES
THE INQUIRER COMPANY
04
20
2024
BARANGAY Ginebra coach Tim Cone would not say it out loud, but Justin Brownlee has just given him a very pleasant problem.
Brownlee showed what he could do with more familiarization to the local conditions by putting up 24 points and 15 rebounds and leading the Kings over the NLEX Road Warriors, 85-72, in the PBA Governors Cup Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The points were seven short of the replacement import’s output in his debut game last Sunday, when he was
stymied by cramps and unfamiliarity with the humid weather and Cone’s system.
But he did have three more rebounds, added four assists and played excellent help defense, while prompting Cone to start pondering who to pick when original import Paul Harris has recovered from his thum injury and fit enough to play.
Cone will cross that bridge when he gets there. “We’re fortunate he’s available and that we were able to bring him in. Now we’ve got two great imports,”were all he would say of the matter for the moment.
In the meantime, Cone has time to be pleased at how Brownlee towed Ginebra to its second win in three starts.
“We’re fortunate that Justin is a really good import. He can do a lot of things, he’s very versatile,”said Cone after his team caught up with San Miguel Beer and Meralco at third-running spot.
“We knew he can score, but what we really appreciate is what he’s been doing for us defensively.”
Cone is specifically referring to Brownlee helping out in limiting NLEX counterpart Henry Walker to just 18 points, 20.5 below his average coming into the game.
With only Sean Anthony the lone other NLEX player in double figures with 14 the Road Warriors dropped their second straight game and were relegated into a tie with Star at 1-2, just out of the top eight teams advancing to the playoffs after the 11-game eliminations.
“We did a good job defending Walker,” said Cone. “We got a big fear of him going to this game.”
Japeth Aguilar, Joe Devance, LA Tenorio and even Scottie Thompson did their part in the stretches that mattered most, enabling Ginebra to fully escape the clutches of an NLEX crew that gamely fought on despite the absence of the suspended center Asi Taulava.
Brownlee, who missed his first five shots from beyond the arc, was at the forefront of that surge with the first two of his triples and Aguilar and Devance adding five points each in plucking the Kings out of the
last tie at 57 and into a 73-60 spread.
Brownlee’s three-point play and Aguilar’s freebies even gave Ginebra a 78-64 cushion, which proved safe enough going to the last 3:28 of play.
Aguilar wound up with 14 points, five rebounds anf four blocked shots while Tenorio and Devance added 10 each. Thompson only had eight points but pulled down 12 rebounds and issued four assists.
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