On the bench in the closing minutes of Friday’s game at the Big Dome, Barangay Ginebra governor Alfrancis Chua was seen punching the air, full of emotion, in each highlight play heading to a triumphant finish.
They were a few moments away from reaching the pinnacle for the fourth time in the last five editions of the PBA Governors’ Cup.
Each championship had its peculiarity, as each one was special.
But Chua was convinced this one’s easily the hardest, the scariest, and in the end the sweetest as they survived a tough, tough test that in the process kept their reign in the season-ending, import-spiced conference.
“Pinakamahirap ito,” said Chua of the fourth of their four-of-four feat versus Governors’ Cup archrival Meralco.
The Ginebra top official wasn’t referring just to the challenge put up by the Tony Bishop-led Meralco team in the finale but the tough adversity and tall odds they faced all tournament long.
“It was a little bit shocking for us because we were so far down at one point and reached the bottom of the barrel,” said Ginebra coach Tim Cone of their struggle in the elimination round.
“Kinabahan ako kasi kulang sa bala. Injured sina Stanley Pringle, Jared Dillinger, Aljun Mariano at Japeth Aguilar, at si Justin (Brownlee) late na nag-pick up ang game,” said Chua.
The Kings did make the quarterfinals but, just as the sixth seed, faced the tough task of needing to win two in a row to beat No. 3 seed and Philippine Cup titlist TNT Tropang Giga.
“Tumaas ang kumpinyansa noong tinalo ang TNT,” said Chua of their 104-92 and 115-95 triumphs over the Tropang Giga.
Last dance
Then finally, the Kings enjoyed some odds on their side versus the NLEX team that lost a lot of spunk on the exit of original import KJ McDaniels. The Kings got past the Road Warriors, 3-1, in their semis series.
Then came the Ginebra-Meralco IV Last Dance that the Kings had to attend with Aguilar joining Pringle, Dillinger, and Mariano on the sidelines.
“Nag-improve ang Meralco, kami naman napilay ng husto,” said Chua. “Nakita kong kaya noong nanalo sa Game 2.”
The Gin Kings evened up at one-game apiece on their 99-93 decision in Game 2, and their morale and confidence soared higher when they pulled even again at 2-2 on a 95-84 win in Game 4.
Brownlee and his teammates refused to stop from there, beating the Bolts three in a row to repeat their back-to-back Governors’ Cup title runs in 2016 and 2017.
“We’re a team that doesn’t quit. We have that legacy and it’s always an honor and a curse to live up to that. It’s very hard but these guys have been finding a way to do that,” said Cone.
Best import
At the center of the Ginebra’s victorious toast is best import Justin Brownlee.
After bagging the Governors’ Cup Best Import award, the 33-year-old Brownlee powered the Kings to a back-to-back championship in the season-ending tournament.
To top it all, Brownlee is now part of the Top 5 all-time scoring list among imports following his 24-point, 16-rebound, six-assist stats line in the closed-out game.
The charismatic import surpassed fellow Ginebra legend Billy Ray Bates at no. 5 as he now totaled 4,539 points in his PBA stint that began in 2016.
Bates, the explosive former Portland Trailblazers stalwart who steered the Ginebra franchise to its first-ever league championship in 1986, fell at sixth spot with 4,523.
The ever-humble person that he is, Brownlee felt great being mentioned in the same breath as Bates and Norman Black, the Meralco Bolts coach who leads the all-time scoring list with 11,329.
“It’s always great to be mentioned with those guys and Norman Black. It’s great. Great feeling,” said Brownlee.
“I definitely did my history on the imports that have played here. I know he is a great import and he has a lot of success. He is one of the best, if not the best, to play here,” Brownlee added, pertaining to the legendary Bates.
No. 2 in the import scoring list behind Black is the late seven-time Best Import winner Bobby Ray Parks with 8,955, grand slam champion Sean Chambers with 8,225, and scoring great Lou Massey with 5,386.
“It feels great to be in the company of things in the league. I feel like this is a great league, very established, has a lot of history, has a lot of players, import and local players. It feels great to keep accomplishing things in this league because it means a lot,” said Brownlee.
This is the fifth time Brownlee moved on the leaderboard among the top-scoring imports, initially being at no. 11 before the start of the conference.
He had since moved past the likes of Byron ‘Snake’ Jones and Billy Ray Robinson, Donnie Ray Koonce, Larry McNeil, Francois Wise, and Bates.