Gilas Pilipinas superstar Justin Brownlee adds another legendary moment to his stacked career highlight reel as he takes down Asian Games host China with multiple clutch three-pointers
MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas’ run in the 19th Asian Games looked all but over at the hands of host nation China in the semifinals on Wednesday, October 4.
Naturalized Filipino star Justin Brownlee had other plans, however. The longtime PBA import spent the prime of his career imbibing the “never say die” mantra of his home team Barangay Ginebra, and if he were going down, he would go down fighting.
Aching body and all, the 35-year-old veteran willed himself to arguably one of the most stunning comebacks in Philippine basketball history, scoring 17 fourth-quarter points on 5-of-5 three-pointers, including two in the final minute to complete a 77-76 heist over China and clinch a finals spot.
Gilas head coach Tim Cone, who mentored the Philippine Centennial Team that lost to China also in the Asian Games semis 25 years ago, just about ran out of possible words befitting the moment when the dust had settled.
“This is special,” an emotional Cone told reporters in Hangzhou. “Twenty-five years ago, China beat me. I tell you, to this day, that’s the only game where I cried. To come back here and get this victory now is to come full cycle. It’s an emotional time for us and, I think, for everybody.”
An eloquent storyteller of the game unlike any before him, Cone was reduced to an onomatopoeic recap that nonetheless still painted the perfect picture of Brownlee’s mesmerizing final stretch.
“Those last two shots were like impossible. Guys were right on his face, and I thought there’s no way either of those would go in, and both of them go…Boom! Boom! And I was like, wow, we have a shot,” continued Cone, who had coached Brownlee to sink many other booming game-winners in the PBA.
“Whew! Those last two shots…they’re unforgettable. People will remember them forever.”
Now assured of the first Asian Games men’s basketball medal since that fateful 1998 campaign, Cone is not ready to settle just yet, as the Philippines now has a golden opportunity to win it all in the continental showpiece for the first time in 61 long years.
“I’m trying to keep an even keel because we got another game, and our goal still is to win the gold,” he continued.
“We said that from the beginning. I’m not sure we believe we’d get here, but we did say that from the beginning. We also kept saying we want to get back and play Jordan, so we’re back to play them. Now we’ll see what we can do on [Friday].”
Jordan, the only team that has beaten Gilas in this edition of the Asian Games, will try to finish its own dream run with PBA import Rondae Hollis-Jefferson leading the way as its first-ever gold medal is tantalizingly within reach.
The Philippines, however, will definitely not be satisfied with a bridesmaid finish, especially with the way it got to the finals in the first place. Only one dream run will see a happy ending on Friday, October 6, 8 pm.
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