Brownlee’s childhood dream realized with title-clinching buzzer-beater

Ginebra import Justin Brownlee. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Every kid has dreamt of hitting that shot.

Every kid has dreamt of counting the seconds down in his head with the ball and his team’s fortunes in his hand then taking the shot, with the crowd going wild.

It was exactly how Justin Brownlee pictured everything going when he nailed the title-clinching, buzzer-beating three to lift Ginebra above Meralco 91-88 in Game 6 and end the franchise’s eight-year championship drought.

“That’s the thing when you’re a kid, you know you have the ball in your hands and count down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and you shoot it,” said Brownlee, who scored 31 points and eight rebounds in the last game of the series.

“I’ve always dreamed and imagined it and I couldn’t imagine it the way it happened.”

And if Brownlee always began at five when he counted down as a kid, it also happened during the final possession of the Gin Kings.

With the game tied 88, Brownlee received the ball with 5.5 seconds remaining, dribbled to the top of the key and unleashed the triple over the outstretched arms of Meralco import Allen Durham.

“I thank God for this opportunity and for that shot going in.”

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