MANILA, Philippines -- The 49-point defeat absorbed by Barangay Ginebra last month at the hands of San Miguel "definitely" turned into motivation for the Gin Kings, Justin Brownlee said, as they took Game 1 of their PBA Governors' Cup semifinals against the Beermen Wednesday.
Brownlee and Ginebra on Wednesday drubbed San Miguel, 122-105, to draw first blood in their best-of-seven semifinal series.
The win came almost a month after they were on the wrong side of a 131-82 demolition, the biggest win margin in the Beermen's franchise history.
It was also the Gin Kings' biggest losing margin in history, and the worst loss for head coach Tim Cone.
After Wednesday's Game 1, Brownlee said that that loss provided a fire for the whole squad.
"Well, whenever somebody beats you the way we got beat in that game, it's definitely motivation. We understand that San Miguel is a really tough team, they've been winning championships for years, so we understand that," the import, who recorded 33 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
"I think it was 49 points, was a little bit over-exaggerated but they're a good team and if you're not bringing your A-Game, things like that can happen. Definitely, we, losing like that, definitely motivated everybody in the locker room to just wanna bounce back from that loss," he added.
Ginebra broke the game wide open in the third quarter thanks to Brownlee's 20 points in that period alone. Stephen Holt also provided the spark with nine of his 30 points in the same quarter.
Cone, for his part, seconded that the 49-point loss motivated the squad.
But the question heading into the next game is if they could stay motivated.
"We did it, we're gonna feel good about ourselves, but can we turn around and follow it up in Game 2? That's gonna be our big question," the mentor stressed.
"Now that we have done that and beat them, they're gonna come back and use all that talent and experience that they have to play a really good game on Game 2. That's the way the series is. It's like ping-pong, it's back and forth. It's hard to sustain the motivation game after game after game against a really good team like San Miguel, he added.
"They dominated us for one game, we have dominated them tonight and at this point, it's their turn. Hopefully, we can do something to prevent that."
Game 2 will be on Friday, 7:30 p.m., at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.