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Justin Brownlee arrived in the Philippines 10 years ago almost by accident. What happened over the next decade with Barangay Ginebra is the stuff of legend.
With just a few seconds left in a tight game, Justin Brownlee got the ball. During the last timeout, his coach Tim Cone had told him to take the last shot. He dribbled towards the three-point line and let fly a triple over the outstretched arm of a defender. The shot went in, and Brownlee’s team went on to win the game.
It was Aug. 12, 2025, and Gilas Pilipinas was staring at an upset loss to hosts Saudi Arabia in the FIBA Asia Cup. Trailing 76-79 with less than 10 seconds left, it was do-or-die time. After Brownlee buried that triple, Gilas went on to win in overtime.
In the post-game press conference, this exchange happened:
Reporter: Justin, this performance, is it something you developed over time or do you have what they call clutch genes?
Brownlee: I can’t say if it’s clutch genes or something I developed. I just think as a player if you see the opportunity you just have to go after it.
In the almost ten years that Justin Brownlee has been regaling Filipino basketball fans, he certainly has seized the opportunity more times than we can count. That clutch triple against Saudi Arabia is merely one in a long list of similar big shots he has taken over the years, the most famous of which was actually the first one, taken in 2016 over Meralco’s Allen Durham.
And to think, Brownlee wasn’t even supposed to be here.
The accidental import
There’s a bit of irony in the fact that Justin Brownlee first heard of the Philippine Basketball Association from Paul Harris, who had played in the league in 2011. Five years later, Harris was back for Barangay Ginebra, but a wrist injury in just his second game knocked him out of the rest of the Governors’ Cup.
“You know, Paul is a great guy,” Brownlee told The GAME in an exclusive interview. “I played with him in the D-League, but he told me a lot about the Philippines and he was with TNT, he was telling me about how he just had won a championship. This was 2011, he was telling me this story. And he told me, ‘If you ever get a chance to play in the Philippines, take it.’”
Brownlee was in the United States when his agent at the time, the late Sheryl Reyes, messaged him about a job in the PBA.
“Actually, it was for a different team at first. To be honest, I can’t remember if it was Phoenix or somebody, I don’t want to say the wrong team, but I think it might have been Phoenix or another team, but it wasn’t Ginebra.
“So it was just up in the air. I didn’t decide where I was going to go and then she called me back maybe a day or two later and she told me about Ginebra. And, you know, she told me about the offer and then it was, it was just an opportunity.
“I just felt like I couldn’t pass up. And I probably would have taken the first offer if she didn’t call me back in a day or two right away.”
One wonders how PBA history would have unfolded had Justin Brownlee accepted that initial offer from that other PBA team. Although if he’s being honest, once he got here he actually wasn’t too sure he would last with Ginebra.
“When I first came, I really didn’t know what to expect,” he admits. “My first practice wasn’t a good one really just because I didn’t adjust to the heat, the humidity, and I wasn’t in the best of shape.
“My first practice was almost kind of like a nightmare for me. I think I spent most of the practice in the bathroom throwing up, just throwing up and just cramping.”
Brownlee actually had no idea that he was playing for the PBA’s most popular club. He began wondering, though, why people kept coming up to him for a photograph. He also wasn’t sure what team name they were saying, because he didn’t know the “G” was pronounced like an “H”.
“So they said, ‘Oh, you playing for Ginebra,’” he recalled. “And then I was like, ‘Yeah, I guess’ because I didn’t know the name right away. I didn’t know anything about how popular the team was prior to me getting here. The only team I probably knew about was TNT and that’s through Paul Harris.
“At first I was telling people I played for San Miguel, because on the jersey I saw ‘San Miguel’.”
Then in his very first PBA game, Justin Brownlee immediately got introduced to Calvin Abueva.
“I remember setting a screen on him and he kind of just like ran through the screen a little bit,” Brownlee recalled with a smile on his face. “A little physical as he should, you know, but I was like, ‘Oh, okay. That’s what they were talking about.’
“Because that’s one thing I did always hear the PBA is physical. That’s the first thing. So, and it’s a different kind of physicality.”
He eventually got to know The Beast a lot better, and found a different side.
“I love Calvin,” he said. “He’s a great player. And he’s a great person off the court. I think his personality on the court is a lot different from off the court. You know, he’s a very caring guy.”
“He’s a true competitor, I would say that. But off the court, he’s just a caring guy and he’s a good guy, you know, great guy all around.”
A shot for the ages
In 2016, Barangay Ginebra fans were now going on eight years without celebrating a title, the longest drought in the franchise’s history. There had been a few finals appearances here and there, but for some reason the team always came up short.
Meanwhile, the head coaching position was like a revolving door, with Siot Tangquincen, Jong Uichico, Alfrancis Chua, Ato Agustin, Jeffrey Cariaso and Frankie Lim all taking a crack.
A few months before Justin Brownlee arrived, team management made the bold move of transferring Tim Cone from San Mig Coffee, whom he had just led to a Grand Slam, to Barangay Ginebra.
The 2016 Governors’ Cup was Cone’s third conference with Ginebra, with the team failing to make the finals in the previous two. Brownlee’s late addition, it turned out, was the missing piece.
“I think just as the conference went on, I definitely got more comfortable with the team,” he said. “I saw the preparation every day, all the players, even coach Tim. He’s always preparing the team, and he’s always prepared himself.
“So I think the preparation over time, I was like, wow, we’re really gearing up to do something, you know, if not win it, then to make a deep run or really cause some havoc in the playoffs. And I just saw the progress every day. It kept building up.”
But there were two specific moments that got Brownlee thinking if they were a team of destiny.
“One, when we were playing San Miguel, and Japeth (Aguilar) hit a game winning shot. You know, I think in the championship run, you got to have moments where some people may call it luck or tsamba or whatever, but it’s just a special moment you have. And that’s what it takes to win a championship.
“And then it was another moment with Jay-jay (Helterbrand) and Mark (Caguioa) in the finals.”
In Game 4 of the best-of-seven finals against the Meralco Bolts, Ginebra was down 1-2 in the series and down 16 at the start of the fourth quarter. Cone made the bold move of sending in ageing Ginebra icons Mark Caguioa and Jay-jay Helterbrand to jump-start the Ginebra offense. And they responded, leading the Kings on a huge fourth quarter run that turned the tide and eventually levelled the series.
It was a stroke of genius from Cone that caught everyone by surprise.
“I think everybody was surprised because throughout that whole conference, they didn’t play a lot and some games they didn’t play at all,” Brownlee recalled. “But every time they did come in the game, the fans would have a great reaction. You know, they would be so excited.
“And to be honest, those two guys…I always heard the NSD never-say-die, but I didn’t really understand it until that exact moment. You know, I didn’t understand how big it was and what it really means to…Ginebra…never-say-die. So they taught me the whole never-say-die spirit. I saw it in full effect.
“Those moments propelled us. Just going out there even more confident and just ensuring us that we still got a chance and we can do it.”
It was also during that Game 4, at halftime with Ginebra down big, that Justin Brownlee first saw up close The Living Legend himself, Sonny Jaworski. Prior to that day, he only knew the name, and it was spoken to him like it were some sort of mystical being from the past.
“I was hearing about the stories from everybody, especially all the fans. It’s one thing that they always say, ‘I’ve been a Ginebra fan since the Jaworski days.’ I always hear that, and seeing him at the finals, it was so special because I hadn’t seen him until that point.
“He came and spoke to us, and that’s another moment I could put down and say, when he came into the locker room and spoke to us, I think that’s another moment that propelled us and gave us so much confidence.”
The culmination of that series, of course, was Brownlee’s buzzer-beating 3-point shot at the end of Game 6 that gave Ginebra the championship.
If he hadn’t fully grasped yet what it meant to be a Ginebra hero, what never-say-die truly embodied, there was no doubt he understood all of it in the immediate aftermath.
“Man, I used to go to Megamall every day to maybe eat, to get juice, some fresh fruit juices or stuff like that,” he recalled, a smile coming over his face. “And then after that shot, I went to Megamall and I couldn’t shop like I normally could. I couldn’t walk around because it was literally like, I would go here, it was a crowd of people, maybe want to take photos, shake my hand or whatever it was. Ever since that day, it’s kind of been, everywhere I go, and I’m thankful for it.”
It’s been nearly 10 years since The Shot, and Justin Brownlee still can’t walk anywhere in the Philippines without being mobbed.
“I really greatly appreciate the fans,” he said. “That’s why I try to give back every time somebody wants a photo. I probably can’t do it every time, maybe whether I’m rushing or I don’t have the time, but the fans, they’ve been supporting me this whole time. Whether win or lose, obviously you got your bashers, you know, I appreciate them too, because sometimes I see things and it’s motivation.
“But yeah, after that shot, a lot of things changed.”
The birth of Justin Noy-Pi
In the Philippines, one sign that an import has truly been accepted by the basketball community is when a petition gets started to have him naturalized. Most of these never come to fruition, as it takes so many signatures to get it done.
At first, a move to have Justin Brownlee naturalized appeared headed for a similar fate. His late agent Sheryl Reyes had sent feelers to some of her friends in Congress, among them former PBA team owner Mikee Romero, to initiate proceedings.
The bill stalled, as bills often do when political leadership changes, but eventually Justin Donta Brownlee was sworn in as a Filipino citizen in January 2023, making him eligible to suit up for Gilas Pilipinas in international competition.
Initially, though, he thought he wasn’t the right guy for the job, as he couldn’t help but compare himself to other naturalized Filipino players, all of whom had NBA experience.
“I never imagined it,” he admitted. “Maybe because I lack confidence in myself for having that responsibility, you know, seeing some of the naturalized players that were already there. Andray Blatche, Jordan Clarkson, Marcus Douthit…those are some incredibly talented players.”
His moment in a Gilas uniform finally came on February 24, 2023, when he suited up for the Philippines in the 2023 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers at the Philippine Arena. Brownlee scored 17 points in a 107-96 win over Lebanon, later on admitting to the press that he got goosebumps hearing Lupang Hinirang before the game.
In May 2023, he led the Gilas Redeem Team to the Southeast Asian Games gold medal in Cambodia in contentious conditions. Long used to playing in front of a friendly crowd, Brownlee suddenly faced adversity as he and the rest of Gilas had to endure poor playing conditions, a hostile crowd and a home team that fielded three naturalized players in their bid to reclaim the gold they lost two years prior.
It was sweet redemption, but the bigger achievement was yet to come.
In September of that same year, Brownlee was named to the Philippine men’s 5×5 team for the Hangzhou Asian Games.
That particular Gilas team wasn’t expected to win anything. It was formed just weeks before the Asian Games, had a new coach in Tim Cone, and was battling history, for China had never lost an Asian Games men’s basketball gold medal as a host country.
If, in the eyes of some fans, Justin Brownlee still hadn’t solidified his status as a Philippine basketball icon, surely all doubt was erased after his performance in the semifinal against China.
With NBA legend Yao Ming watching from courtside, Brownlee put on perhaps the most impressive clutch performance of his career. He buried back-to-back triples in the last minute, including the go-ahead basket, as Gilas climbed back from a nine-point deficit in the last two minutes to shock the hosts, 77-76. It was the first time in Asian Games history that China had lost a men’s basketball game on its home floor.
“Coach Tim is always telling me to stay aggressive throughout that game,” Brownlee said. “I got to give China a lot of credit. It was very difficult going against them. They always have great size, and the athleticism as well. They had some really good defenders and they had seven-footers out there. So it was tough to even try to find shots.
“We struggled for a lot of that game and the game kept going on and I found myself getting into a rhythm and I think everybody else, they found themselves getting into some rhythm. The last couple of shots that I took, I was just trying to do whatever for the team, just trying to get the win, whatever possible.
“I don’t think too many people thought we can beat China, but I’m sure everybody here in the Philippines believe and we just kept fighting for them.”
A day later, this hastily-formed Gilas team completed its date with destiny by beating Jordan and winning the gold medal. The last Philippine team to accomplish this was led by Carlos Loyzaga in 1962.
“We were confident. We were definitely confident after that China game.”
A legacy intact
July 24, 2026 will mark the 10th anniversary of Justin Brownlee’s first PBA game, the one where Calvin Abueva gave him his welcome-to-the-PBA moment.
He has since won six PBA championships, three Best Import Awards, one SEA Games gold medal, one Asian Games gold medal, and the hearts of millions of Filipino basketball fans.
Given all these accolades, how does he want to be remembered?
“Oh, that’s a great question,” he replied. “I always want to be labeled as a good guy, a true competitor. Whenever I do play, whether I’m injured maybe not feeling the best, I just want to be remembered as somebody that just gave his all, played with puso.
“I know a lot of people say, ‘Oh, you’re the greatest’ and don’t get me wrong. I love hearing things like that, because I do put in the work and it’s good to be rewarded for the work you put in.
“But aside from that, I just want to be looked at as somebody who put his all into basketball and try to do his best to give back and just inspire the youth.”
There’s a strong argument to be made that Justin Brownlee is one of the greatest PBA imports of all time, and we actually ranked him high on our unofficial list, but the man isn’t too keen on comparing himself to the greats.
“There’s been a lot of great imports who have come to the PBA,” he said. “Do I think I’m the most talented? I don’t think so because I’ve seen and researched some imports. Norman Black, Sean Chambers, the Black Superman (Billy Ray Bates), RHJ (Rondae Hollis-Jefferson), Renaldo Balkman, Allen Durham. I could just keep going on with names and these guys are very, very talented. They had great careers here in Philippines and still going on.
“It’s just great to be recognized in the same conversation with some of these guys, and I’m just blessed in that aspect just to be recognized with the guys.”
And would you believe it, Justin Brownlee has been around for so long that Justin Brownlee, Jr. has already made his Philippine debut. At 14, Junior is already almost as tall as his dad, and earlier this year showed off his skills in the National Basketball Training Center (NBTC) tournament playing for Fil-Nation Select San Francisco.
“Man, I would love for him to play here,” Justin Senior answered when asked about the prospect of Junior staying here long-term. “It would be great to see that, but at the end of the day, I’m going to give him all the advice I can. And I’m going to kind of leave those decisions to him to decide where he want to play. But me personally, I would love to see him here or with Gilas or in the Philippines, anywhere, to be honest, whether it’s college.
“I think his main goal, he definitely want to make the NBA just like any other basketball player. But who knows, you never know what the future holds and whatever decision he makes though, I’m going to give him all the advice he needs and whatever he got to ask me, hopefully I got some good answers that help him decide, you know, so that decision is going to be on him.”
Brownlee still has a few playing years left, and perhaps more Magic Brownlee moments are in store down the line, but this early, he wants to give a big shoutout to the Ginebra faithful.
“I always want to thank the fans. It’s been a great journey. Unbelievable. It’s like a dream. I never would have thought any of this would have happened, you know, but I know it definitely would not have happened without the fans and the support they give. So yeah, shout out to all the fans. Mahal ko kayo.
“Salamat po.”
Banner images by Excel Panlaque/KLIQ, Inc.
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