By REYNALD MAGALLON
Justin Brownlee is not the type to sulk in one corner after a loss – not even after absorbing his first taste of defeat in the finals after six successful runs.
The Ginebra resident import is refusing to dwell on the Kings’ 97-93 loss in Game 6 against TNT – a defeat that put a dent to his erstwhile clean record in the Finals.
Instead, the Gilas Pilipinas naturalized player is immediately shifting his focus to the national team preparation for the Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia in May.
“SEA Games is coming up. Not sure when the practice will start for myself but I’m excited for it. I heard the media are calling it the redeem team so I’m excited whenever the practice gets going,” said Brownlee.
Although coming off a tough Finals loss that also denied him of becoming the winningest import in PBA history, Brownlee said that the SEA Games won’t be some sort of redemption for him.
In fact, he is very much aware that it will be for a greater cause as the Nationals try to reclaim their lost glory after settling for a silver for the first time in 33 years in the last edition
“(The motivation is) not just because of losing this (Finals) but the motivation comes from the past SEA games. Obviously we lost last year and definitely motivated coming into this year,” said Brownlee.
“I understand the Philippines has always at least won golds in the past years, especially in recent years. Just want to reclaim the gold and bring the gold back to the Philippines,” he added.
Brownlee is raring to get back to work despite suffering a severe case of food poisoning a couple of days back which forced him to not finish the pivotal Game 5 of that series.
Brownlee though managed to return in Game 6 and although looking gassed out during some stretches of the game, probably still an after effect of his condition, he still managed to perform well with 29 points which eventually went futile in the end.
