PBA Commissioner’s Cup: Brownlee powers Ginebra to finals victory as Bay Area Dragons run out of steam
- Brownlee drops 34 points in dominating performance as Philippines side take Game 7 114-99 to seal title
- The Dragons had been bidding to be come just the second foreign team to win a PBA conference
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The Bay Area Dragons eventually ran out of steam in the PBA Commissioner’s Cu finals, the same could not be said of a Justin Brownlee-fuelled Barangay Ginebra San Miguel.
Playing before a Philippines record-breaking crowd of 54,589, the power forward dropped a game-high 34 points to go with his eight rebounds and 12 assists in a dominating 114-99 Game 7 win on Sunday at Philippine Arena.
Victory was Brownlee’s sixth title with Ginebra, and extended head coach Tim Cone’s historic run of championships to 25.
Powell silences home fans as Dragons force Game 7 in Commissioner’s Cup
After forcing a decisive Game 7, the Dragons had been bidding to become only the second foreign team to win a PBA conference, and Cone said that had driven his side on Sunday.
“We talked about it from the beginning of the series that we were playing more than just for ourselves, we were playing for more than just Ginebra and we were playing for more than just Ginebra fans,” the head coach said. “We were playing for fans around the country and we were playing for the league itself.”
That energy showed itself in Ginebra’s intense focus right from tip-off and they shut down American import Myles Powell in the first half to set the tone for the rout early on. Powell eventually had 29 points.
A 22-point cushion at half-time grew to a 28-point lead early in the third quarter, and that comfortable lead remained intact despite a late Dragons attempt at a comeback.
Brownlee, who was 14-of-22 from the field, was well supported by Scottie Thompson, who had 18 points and nine rebounds to his name.
Despite the heartbreaking loss, Duncan Reid, who again started in place of the injured Andrew Nicholson for the Dragons, remained upbeat.
“I am very proud of our team for our resiliency and competing as well as we did as a first-year franchise,” Reid said. “We are still a very young group and have so much potential to get better.”
In becoming only the fourth guest team to reach the championship series in the PBA’s 47-year history, the Dragons, especially team head coach Brian Goorjian, won praise from Cone, who called his opposite number “really special”.
“He [Goorjian] had to go through basically three different line-ups this series. One with Nicholson, he played another way all-Chinese, then another with Powell,” the 65-year-old American said. “His team stayed in their flow. When they lost Nicholson, their spirit was incredible, their motor was lifted and they did not feel sorry for themselves.
“We just had a healthier line-up and he did not. If he had a healthier line-up, I do not know if we would be here on the podium.”
With the Dragons topping the regular season with a 10-2 record, starting point guard Glen Yang, who had 10 points in Sunday’s loss, said the playoffs were a “whole different season” in itself.
“You have to be that much more on point every night to compete for a championship,” he said. “The crowd and the referees will most likely not be on your side every night, especially against the favourite teams.”
Following the Commissioner’s Cup, the Dragons will switch their focus to the five-day “Champions Week” tournament – the inaugural East Asia Super League (EASL) season – which will be held from March 1 to 5 in Tochigi and Okinawa, Japan.
“We are very excited about EASL, it has been our goal to win that from day one. We are confident in our ability to win that tournament,” Yang said.
The Dragons will play Seoul SK Knights and Utsunomiya Brex on March 2 and 3, respectively. If they finish in the top two of Group B, they will head to Okinawa for a placement game.
