Cone sees Brownlee, Balkman turn into 'mortal enemies' in PBA final

Justin Brownlee and Renaldo Balkman celebrated a championship with Alab Pilipinas in the ASEAN Basketball League almost three months ago.

On Friday, both will be in the finals. Only this time, they will be on opposite sides playing for the crown of the Commission's PBA Cup.

Ginebra coach Tim Cone expects Brownlee and Balkman to put aside their friendship and end up in a highly competitive match. look in the first game.

"I'm sure that at the beginning there will be laughter and laughter between them two maybe a few highs in private, but once the series started, I tell you, these guys are so competitive, Cone said after Ginebra hit Rain or Shine in the fourth game of the semifinal on Monday night to establish a seven-game winning streak with San Miguel Beer

"The two of them are going to be enemies There are old teammates there, but I think they're really going to go one to the other, "Cone added. "I do not know how much they will keep, I guess Balkman will keep a lot of Justin but I'm not sure how much Justin will keep Balkman."

Balkman and Brownlee had already faced each other when Puerto Rican striker led the Beermen in front of the Gin Kings, 104-97. , in the elimination round on June 3rd.

In this highly anticipated showdown, Balkman finished with 27 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks while Brownlee had 18 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists and five blocks.

Brownlee, making his third appearance in the final with Ginebra, admitted that he would feel different from not being in the same team as Balkman.

"I think it's a bit weird," Brownlee said Tuesday. "He's on the other side now – he's my brother for life but now he's an opponent."

Balkman believes it will be a dog fight on Friday.

"We are all brothers, but it's going to be a fight until the end, we're both trying to win a championship."

Cone can not wait to see how this unfolds.

"It will be an interesting confrontation and it's ironic that we both have these latecomers, we were both the bottom of the rankings when they came and they brought us back to the top of the mountain and now they align with each other, so it's a very beautiful story right there.

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