BEST IMPORT or not, rivals Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (RHJ) of defending champion TNT and Justin Brownlee (JB) of Barangay Ginebra stressed their sights remained fixed firmly on the big prize.
Mr. Hollis-Jefferson beat Mr. Brownlee for the award named after the late great import Bobby Parks Sunday night but hours later, the latter got back by leading the Gin Kings to a series-tying 106-92 verdict in Game 4.
And now two-time Best Import RHJ and three-time winner JB gear up for the final push for the PBA Season 49 Governors’ Cup crown, which has been reduced to a race-to-two affair.
“Of course, that’s an accomplishment but at the end of the day, I reiterate and I’ll say it a million more times, I’m not playing this game (for) or worried about individual accolades,” Mr. Hollis-Jefferson said.
“Definitely I give thanks to my teammates and coaches for helping me accomplish that, it’s something I can talk to my kids about in the future but we want to win the championship, we want to win every game,” he added.
Mr. Brownlee gracefully conceded his defeat to his TNT counterpart, who tallied 1,221 points out of statistical points and votes from players and media against his 947.
“Man, that’s a talented dude. He’s been playing incredibly the whole conference so it’s well deserved…(He’s a) huge reason why they’re in the finals,” he said of Mr. Hollis-Jefferson.
However, the Ginebra resident import made sure on RHJ’s night, it was he and the Gin Kings who would get the W and force a 2-2 stalemate after a risky 0-2 start.
Mr. Brownlee caught fire with 34 points, dropping three booming triples and a pair of bombs from the extended four-point arc to grease the crowd darlings’ offensive machine.
“It was great to get a good rhythm. Obviously in the past three games, I haven’t had a good shooting touch so it’s nice to see some shots go in. Give a lot of credit to my teammates, When I was open, they found me and when I wasn’t open, they set good screens to get me open,” he said.
Mr. Hollis-Jefferson, who had 28 and nine but was held to four in the final canto where Ginebra put the finishing touches with a 21-15 exchange, took the Game 4 loss with grace.
“You got to give credit to those guys, they played phenomenal. Japeth (Aguilar) was 7-for-10, (Maverick) Ahanmisi 6-for-9. When they make 18 (points) after 8 or 10 previously, that makes it tougher for the opposing team to get victorious,” he said.
RHJ felt it wasn’t an overall bad game for TNT, which shot 54.1% overall.
“From a statistical standpoint, it was a good game. There were just some mistakes and we couldn’t cut the lead in some situations. That’s on our part. We got to go back to the drawing board, look at some things and make some adjustments,” he said.
The Tropang Giga and the Gin Kings take the battlefield again tomorrow in crucial Game 5 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum with the winner taking one step closer to its ultimate goal. — Olmin Leyba