Gilas Pilipinas could have Justin Brownlee’s scoring brilliance in its arsenal, however head coach Tim Cone believes the crew’s actual progress was evident after they discovered methods to thrive—even with their naturalized star on the bench or shut down.
Such was the story within the Filipinos’ 66-57 win over Iraq, the place the remainder of the crew stepped up large time amid the offensive struggles of Brownlee.
“That’s what we’ve been speaking about. We’ve to make use of Justin not simply to be as a scorer for us, however we are able to play off of him as a result of he does draw a lot consideration,” Cone stated.
“And we truly made our run in that second quarter with Justin out of the sport so everyone was like extra concerned.”
Brownlee has been phenomenal for Gilas of their two shedding efforts to open the event.
The naturalized ahead posted 19 factors laced with seven rebounds and two assists earlier than fouling out of their 95-87 loss to Chinese Taipei early Wednesday.
He then detonated for 37 factors on 7-of-12 capturing from downtown towards New Zealand whereas additionally grabbing 5 boards, three dimes, and one steal en path to a 94-86 defeat.
Conscious of his scoring prowess, Iraq made certain to close Brownlee down throughout their duel on Saturday. The versatile ahead was held to only eight factors to go along with seven rebounds, 5 assists, and two steals.
However even with their star participant’s scoring woes, the Filipinos managed to eke out the nine-point victory that allowed the nation to clinch a ticket within the qualification to quarterfinals towards host Saudi Arabia.
“He’s such an amazing participant. It’s straightforward to sit down there and watch him play and I imply from a teammate standpoint, we’re all standing and watching him play as a result of he’s unimaginable,” Cone stated.
“However now we have to proceed to learn to use him after they’re denying him as a result of meaning they’re not ready to assist.”
With Brownlee struggling to transform factors, Dwight Ramos stepped as much as the plate and erupted for 21 factors whereas AJ Edu chipped in 9 markers.
Cone hopes to see extra of this from his wards transferring ahead.
“There are occasions that we’re gonna get open due to that and guys simply gotta step up and this man (Ramos) did. For essentially the most half, we did that tonight,” he added.
“However yeah, I actually consider that is the type of recreation we envision we’d play.”
—JKC, GMA Built-in Information
