BARANGAY Ginebra is headed to the finals of the 2022 PBA Commissioner’s Cup.

Justin Brownlee played another brilliant, all-around game as Ginebra defeated Manila Clasico rival Magnolia, 99-84, in Game 4 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Brownlee finished with 24 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and five blocks in 42 minutes for the Gin Kings, who finished off the Hotshots, 3-1, in their best-of-five semifinal duel.

The Tim Cone-mentored Gin Kings advanced to the finals for the fourth time in the last five conferences. This run includes two of their Governors’ Cup feats with Brownlee and their triumph in the Philippine Cup bubble in Clark.

Ginebra will play the winner of the other semifinal match between Bay Area and defending champion San Miguel Beer.

Game 1 of the best-of-seven finals starts on Christmas Day also at the Mall of Asia Arena.

“I’m so thankful we don’t have to play a Game 5 against this team,” said Cone in an interview posted at the official PBA website.

“We talked about it: Just say no to Game 5. We had to put all our eggs in one basket in this game and we did. These guys didn’t leave anything, they didn’t look beyond this game,” added Cone.
Brownlee had plenty of support.

Veteran Japeth Aguilar came off the bench to add a conference-high 19 points and eight rebounds.

LA Tenorio contributed 18 points, including 10 in the first quarter, Scottie Thompson had 14 points, five rebounds and five assists and Jamie Malonzo had 10 points, eigth rebounds and six assists.

Ginebra led by as many as 24 points.

So dominant were the Gin Kings they hardly missed the services of Fil-Germna Christian Standhardinger, who was ejected just six minutes into the game after throwing the ball at Magnolia import Nicholas Rakocevic.

Standhardinger was assessed a flagrant foul penalty 2.

Calvin Abueva was the top performer for Magnolia with 14 points. six rebounds and three steals.

Rakocevic, however, struggled all game.

The 24-year-old American-Serbian forward was held to only 13 points on a dismal 3-of-13 shooting in 30 minutes on the floor.

Jio Jalalon had 12 points and Game 2 hero Paul Lee had nine points.

The scores:

Ginebra (99)– Brownlee 24, J.,Aguilar 19, Tenorio 18, Thompson 14, Malonzo 10, Pringle 5, Gray 3, Pinto 3, Mariano 2, Standhardinger 1, Pessumal 0, R.Aguilar 0.
Magnolia (84) — Abueva 14, Rakocevic 13, Jalalon 12, Lee 9, Reavis 8, Barroca 7, Ahanmisi 6, Sangalang 6, Dionisio 4, Wong 3, Corpuz 2, Dela Rosa 0, Mendoza 0.
Quarterscores: 29-18, 53-41, 82-68, 99-84.

The results:

Game 1 — Ginebra 87, Magnolia 84.
Game 2 — Magnolia 96, Ginebra 95.
Game 3 — Ginebra 103, Magnolia 80.
Game 4 — Ginebra 99, Magnolia 84
(Ginebra wins series, 3-1).