From one great import to another, Norman Black was left in awe with the performance of Justin Brownlee, the naturalized player of Gilas Pilipinas who essayed the role as “Mr. Clutch.”
Brownlee not only led the Philippine squad in winning its first gold medal in 61 years, but he also performed the best shooting performances ever by our national team player.
“I’ve never seen anyone as clutch as Justin Brownlee playing in a major international competition. He was spectacular,” said Black, a two-time Best Import before he became a successful coach in the Philippine Basketball Association.
Black, himself, was able to experience first-hand how clutch Brownlee was in actual games.
“I was there and saw it happened right before my very eyes,” said Black, referring to how he experienced being torched and tormented by Brownlee, including the game-winning three-point shot during the 2016 Governors’ Cup.
“We lost all four championship showdowns with Brownlee and Ginebra,” Black added.
Black didn’t have an opportunity of representing the Philippines as a player. Although there was a plan from then basketball godfather Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. to make him a naturalized player.
He was supposed to join Chip Engelland, Jeff Moore and Dennis Still in reinforcing the Northern Consolidated Cement squad which formed the national team.
After leading the Philippine team to its redemption tour in the Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia last May, Brownlee spearheaded Gilas’ remarkable feat in the Asiad and became a part of this historic group.
Black had seen Brownlee played his best basketball, especially during Gilas’ semifinals win against China where he went 5-for-5 from beyond the arc, including the game-winning trey.
“He was spectacular,” said Black. “The Asian Games is not the PBA so this won’t have any bearing on the discussion on the greatest ever import to play in the PBA.”
“But in the Asian Games, I would say he was the best player out there.”
Black, who also became a part of the 1990 Asiad team as an assistant coach to Robert Jaworski and brought home a silver medal, believes that the more lenient rule of having more than one reinforcement has helped Gilas a great deal in winning the gold medal.
