By REYNALD MAGALLON
Justin Brownlee is just relieved to be finally back home.
The Gilas Pilipinas naturalized player was glad to be back in the country after getting reinstated following a three-month suspension.
Brownlee admitted that the past few months have been tough and stressful for him but thankful that it was all finally over now.
“Man, it feels good I’ve been waiting for this moment for the past few months and I’m happy to come back and be greeted with a lot of love,” said Brownlee after his first public appearance since returning to the country
“just good to be back in the Philippines all around and it’s really really been waiting for this moment for a while and I’m just happy to be back,” he added.
Brownlee couldn’t help but look back to the struggles of being away from basketball especially after seeing how warm the welcome was for him when he was honored for his contributions to the Nationals’ gold medal run during the halftime of the Game 4 Finals match between Magnolia and San Miguel.
“Mentally it’s very tough just you not knowing whatever the outcome may be and the situation that is going on,” said Brownlee as he was put on a provisional suspension while waiting for FIBA’s verdict on his doping case.
Through everything though, Brownlee added that he remained optimistic that he would come back to move forward and put everything behind him.
“Very stressful for sure, a lot of days and nights thinking about it, feeling sorry for myself,” recalled Brownlee.
But at the end of the day, If you get knocked down or if you get set back you just gotta try to stay positive and move forward and you know physically I just try to stay in the best shape I can,” he added.
True enough, the 35-year-old forward was finally given the green light to join the national team in time for the first window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers.
