At 38, Justin Brownlee still has plenty of magic left as seen in 54-point masterclass

“What did I say after the last game? I think I said we shouldn’t be so Justin-centric,” reflected the league’s winningest mentor shortly after the match that was watched live by 18,039 fans at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.

“And what happens? He comes out and hits 54 tonight. It goes to show what I know. The key tonight was Justin was awesome.”

Game 5 appeared to move out of reach for Ginebra, with it staring at an 87-80 deficit with 3:55 left in regulation — until Brownlee took over from.

The Gilas Pilipinas star scored 22 of his points in the payoff period and extra time combined on the way to a historic showing following a quick check in league records by the PBA’s head of statistics, Fidel Mangonon III.

Aside from eclipsing his previous career-high of 51, which he set in a win versus San Miguel during last season’s Governors’ Cup eliminations, it is the highest output in a PBA Finals by any player in more than three decades.

(C) PBA Images

The last time that a similar scoring display took place was in Game 3 of the 1994 Governors’ Cup title series. There, Tony Harris dropped 54 markers as well, albeit in a losing effort, as his Swift bowed to San Miguel, 124-110, in OT.

Massive thanks to Brownlee, the Barangay hurdled a rough night in which they missed gimmes and struggled to find the rhythm they had back in Game 3, their most convincing win to date.

“It didn’t look like it was our night, but we made it our night just through our grit. I’m really proud of our guys in that regard. A real character win,” Cone said.

For Brownlee, it’s all a by-product of his mindset to stay as aggressive as possible. After all, he knows — and has embraced — how much the rest of the Kings bank on him, especially whenever the going gets tough.

“As an import, you just gotta stay aggressive,” said the four-time Best Import. “I just wanted to stay aggressive for the team, you know. I know that the guys lean on me sometimes at certain moments, and I just wanted to do my part.

“This is one of those games where Coach talked about grinding it out, and we just had to grind it out.”

With that all-out showing, the question is if there’s anything left in the tank, knowing the potential title-clincher in Game 6 is this Sunday.

“I think everybody’s tired right now,” said Brownlee, who’s eyeing his seventh PBA title to surpass Sean Chambers for the most rings by an import.

“But at this point, for both teams, you can’t make it an excuse. This is how the playoffs have always been, even when I was in my 20s. Everybody’s getting tired at this point but you gotta keep the bigger picture in mind.”