Tim Cone urges Gilas Pilipinas to maximize Justin Brownlee’s impact beyond scoring

Gilas Pilipinas may have Justin Brownlee’s scoring brilliance in its arsenal, but head coach Tim Cone believes the team's real progress was evident when they found ways to thrive—even with their naturalized star on the bench or shut down.

Such was the story in the Filipinos’ 66-57 win over Iraq, where the rest of the crew stepped up big time amid the offensive struggles of Brownlee. 

"That’s what we’ve been talking about. We have to use Justin not just to be as a scorer for us, but we can play off of him because he does draw so much attention," Cone said. 

"And we actually made our run in that second quarter with Justin out of the game so everybody was like more involved."

Brownlee has been phenomenal for Gilas in their two losing efforts to open the tournament. 

The naturalized forward posted 19 points laced with seven rebounds and two assists before fouling out in their 95-87 loss to Chinese Taipei early Wednesday. 

He then detonated for 37 points on 7-of-12 shooting from downtown against New Zealand while also grabbing five boards, three dimes, and one steal en route to a 94-86 defeat. 

Aware of his scoring prowess, Iraq made sure to shut Brownlee down during their duel on Saturday. The versatile forward was held to just eight points to go with seven rebounds, five assists, and two steals. 

But even with their star player’s scoring woes, the Filipinos managed to eke out the nine-point victory that allowed the country to clinch a ticket in the qualification to quarterfinals against host Saudi Arabia. 

"He’s such a tremendous player. It’s easy to sit there and watch him play and I mean from a teammate standpoint, we’re all standing and watching him play because he’s incredible," Cone said.

"But we have to continue to learn how to use him when they’re denying him because that means they’re not in a position to help."

With Brownlee struggling to convert points, Dwight Ramos stepped up to the plate and erupted for 21 points while AJ Edu chipped in nine markers. 

Cone hopes to see more of this from his wards moving forward. 

"There are times that we’re gonna get open because of that and guys just gotta step up and this guy (Ramos) did. For the most part, we did that tonight," he added.

"But yeah, I really believe this is the kind of game we envision we would play."

—JKC, GMA Integrated News