BY JONAS TERRADO
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel import Justin Brownlee is feeling the holiday spirit as he celebrates Christmas in the Philippines for the first time.
“I’m enjoying it,” said Brownlee. “I love the excitement around Christmas here. A lot of Christmas lights, I’ve been hearing a lot of Christmas carols and things like that. Even the gifts from the team, the coaching staff.”
“It’s been great. I love being here. I definitely feel the Christmas spirit,” he added.
But Brownlee wants to avoid being carried away with the Christmas feels, with Ginebra set to use the break in-between the Christmas and New Year’s revelry to prepare for the PBA Governors’ Cup Finals.
Ginebra clinched the first slot to the best-of-seven title series last Dec. 20 when it finished off NorthPort in four games.
Game 1 is set Jan. 8 against the winner of Monday night’s semis decider between Meralco and TNT KaTropa at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
“It’s kinda tricky because you don’t want to be out of shape too much,” Brownlee said. “You wanna stay focused and locked, you know, it’s the Finals. So, I don’t think we ever done this which is having an extended break in the semis and now the Finals, either one.
“But we just want to stay focused, try not to lose the mentality that we already got right now. Hopefully we don’t take too many days off,” he added.
Coach Tim Cone said he sees no reason for them to take plenty of rest during the respite with the high stakes on the line.
“You take too much time off, you lose the momentum you have,” he said. “I just gotta explain to the guys that it’s gonna be everybody else’s holidays, but it’s not gonna be ours. This is work for us.”
Brownlee finished 2019 sparking Ginebra’s offense, averaging 38.5 points on 60 percent shooting in winning Games 3 and 4 by a combined margin of 40 points.