Here's how the Tall Blacks locked down Justin Brownlee
At A Glance
- For the second straight game, the Tall Blacks have successfully neutralized the Gilas naturalized player and in both occasions, they barely managed to escape the Nationals.
New Zealand has Justin Brownlee’s numbers throughout the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers so far.
For the second straight game, the Tall Blacks have successfully neutralized the Gilas naturalized player, and in both occasions, they barely managed to escape the Nationals.
New Zealand held off Gilas 69-66 in their first meeting in the qualifiers last February at the Mall of Asia Arena and then pulled off a 106-102 escape in double overtime in their second encounter at the Spark Arena in Auckland on Friday, July 3.
In such close games, one would expect Brownlee, who has emerged as a hero for the national team several times in the past, to take over.
But that wasn't the case.
Brownlee only had four points on 2-of-10 shooting against the Tall Blacks in their first meeting while he only had five in the second game in just 2-of-3 clip from the field.
New Zealand head coach Jude Flavell simply credited their defense in making things tough for the 38-year-old forward.
“The game could have gone either way. I think that’s a true test of international basketball. We had some objectives that we were looking to do. Obviously, Brownlee, who’s a big part of the focal point offensively, we did a great job with him,” said Flavell.
If not playing the Tall Blacks, Brownlee is averaging 20.4 points per game. Against them, it drops to a measly 4.5 ppg.
In their second meeting, long-time Ginebra import struggled against the physical defense of the Tall Blacks with the burly Carlin Davison sticking like glue to Brownlee and denying him the ball.
If Brownlee manages to get the ball, New Zealand is sending a quick double to either force him to a turnover or pass the ball to his teammates.
Gilas, to be fair, adjusted well and used Brownlee as a decoy to open up guys like Kevin Quiambao, Carl Tamayo and Juan Gomez de Liano. The Nationals even looked to be on its way to making the Tall Blacks pay for their gamble if not for their late miscues.
“Obviously, that opened up certain things for others, and they capitalized,” said Flavell.
“We knew the Philippines was going to be a very tough opponent. They always have been. Like I said to the guys in the locker room, very proud of the way they held their resilience and composure down the stretch,” he added.