Justin Brownlee’s game-saving efficiency towards Saudi Arabia was nothing out of the atypical for Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone, who has watched the naturalized ahead hit many clutch photographs in his profession.
Brownlee buried a clutch three-pointer to power a 79-all impasse within the regulation and ultimately drag the Saudis to extra time throughout their qualification to quarterfinals duel within the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup.
He then linked up with the younger weapons Kevin Quiambao, Dwight Ramos, and AJ Edu to close out a 95-88 victory.
However for Cone, Brownlee’s newest magical efficiency was simply one other chapter in a narrative he’s seen unfold many occasions earlier than.
“It was a particular sport. It was a particular efficiency by each groups. The house crew actually got here to play and so they had been phenomenal,” Cone stated within the post-game press convention.
“They posed lots of issues for us and by all rights, they’d the sport gained aside from the man sitting to my proper who hit the massive photographs. If you realize his historical past, that’s common. He’s been hitting massive photographs.”
Cone and Brownlee’s relationship goes past the nationwide crew as the 2 had been behind a variety of titles for Barangay Ginebra within the PBA, lots of which had been made potential by the latter’s clutch performs.
On the worldwide stage, Cone has witnessed Brownlee work his magic as nicely, most notably throughout their historic gold medal run on the nineteenth Asian Video games in 2023, the place the naturalized ahead showcased his scoring prowess.
Of their sport towards China within the semifinals, Brownlee detonated for 33 factors to assist the Philippines return to the Asian Video games finals once more after 33 years. He then led the offense within the finals towards Jordan to end the country’s 61-year gold medal drought.
“I’m his coach in his membership crew and after we performed the Asian Video games, he was hitting massive photographs so that is nothing international to Justin,” Cone added.
“Then we got here out and performed very nicely within the extra time, actually acquired the groove going, acquired some momentum. However man, what a particular sport that was.”
For Brownlee, the sport was one to recollect, as he credited each his teammates and the opposing aspect for giving followers a particular contest.
“I agree with coach, it was an awesome sport. The host crew got here out and confirmed nice help from the followers and as a participant, these are the video games you dream about and you actually stay up for enjoying,” stated Brownlee, who completed with a team-high 29 factors.
“Simply gotta give credit score to each groups. Fortunately, we got here away with the win and superior on this match.”
—JMB, GMA Built-in Information
