GILAS Pilipinas coach Tim Cone and naturalized player Justin Brownlee are using Barangay Ginebra's stinging loss in the PBA Governors' Cup finals as motivation for the coming FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.
Cone and Brownlee will serve national team duties versus New Zealand on Nov. 21 and Hong Kong on Nov. 24 with the Gin Kings' 2-4 defeat to back-to-back champ TNT last Friday still fresh.
"He (Brownlee) is not exactly happy about the way he played. I'm not happy about the way we played. I'm not happy about the way I coached. So, you know, I'm motivated to bounce back. But even more so, Justin's motivated to bounce back. So I'm looking forward to that," Cone said in Wednesday's press conference with Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Al Panlilio and executive director Erika Dy and Gilas team manager Richard del Rosario.
"And when I have a motivated Justin, watch out," Cone added.
He expressed belief the eight-day breather between Game 6 and the start of Gilas' training camp at Inspire in Laguna should be enough to get Brownlee back on his feet.
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"We've seen him highly motivated in the past and what he could do so I don't think anybody has anything to fear about Justin Brownlee. He'll be ready, he'll be raring to go and I think he's going to put up some really nice performances for the country coming up," he said.
"The bottom line is, I think Justin's just going to be ready to play. And that doesn't mean he puts up big numbers. That means he's going to be locked into what we do, get his teammates involved and play the game the right way. And what he does 99 percent of the time."
Joining Brownlee in the 15-man pool for the second window assignments are Scottie Thompson, June Mar Fajardo, CJ Perez, Calvin Oftana, Chris Newsome, Dwight Ramos, Kai Sotto, Carl Tamayo, AJ Edu, Kevin Quiambao, Mason Amos, Jamie Malonzo, Japeth Aguilar and backup naturalized player Ange Kouame.
Malonzo, who is sidelined by calf injury, has been ruled out for the two home games already. Edu hurt his knee from a recent game in the Japan B. League and is listed as doubtful for the games.
Cone said Aguilar and Amos will likely take the spot of the two in the final roster.
Meanwhile, Sotto is still under concussion protocol and according to Del Rosario, his participation depends on whether he gets medical clearance in time for the two home gigs. (OL)
