Brownlee rises to the occasion anew in Ginebra's ouster of SMB

MANILA, Philippines — Ginebra’s Justin Brownlee has long proven his killer instinct in the game of basketball.

On Wednesday night, it was on full display. Anew.

With San Miguel Beer staking their bid for a Grand Slam and Ginebra coming into the tussle with a twice-to-beat advantage, Brownlee took matters into his hands.

The beloved American reinforcement took jump shots, long bombs, drove to the basket, jammed the leather — all with terrifying efficiency.

“We definitely wanted to come out and we knew we had a twice-to-beat advantage,” Brownlee said of his team’s performance.

And oh, Brownlee knew that the pressure was on the Beermen’s side.

"We wanted to come out and put the pressure on them. We just kept pressuring them on defense,” he continued. "It gave us the opportunity to separate in the third and fourth quarter.”

Brownlee finished the game with 37 points in the tussle. He secured 12 boards and swatted four shots, too, while teaming up with Joe Devance a rejuvenated Greg Slaughter.

The Kings' troika of bigs just proved to be too much for the Beermen, as they rendered back-to-back-to-back MVP June Mar Fajardo and import Terrence Watson powerless.

But as lethal as he was that night, Brownlee said the sky-high confidence they flashed in their quarterfinals outing was all thanks to the bonus itself.

“It was huge for us,” he said. "Anytime you get an advantage over a team like that, coach (Tim Cone) always tells us to take advantage of opportunities.”

"Tonight, we had one of the biggest opportunities all conference long and we took advantage of it,” Brownlee added.

And after ridding themselves the biggest thorn to their side en route a Governors’ Cup repeat, the versatile forward said it doesn’t matter who they play in the semis anymore.

“We all know what TNT can do,” he said of the yet-to-be-decided series between KaTropa and Rain or Shine Elastopainters. “Either way it goes, it’s going to be a tough fight.”

“It don’t matter who we play (sic),” he declared.