80% of the Plan: Tall Blacks’ strategy centered on stopping Justin Brownlee

Gilas Pilipinas forward Justin Brownlee has been a consistent thorn in New Zealand’s side.

Across their last three head-to-head matchups, Brownlee has torched the Tall Blacks for an average of 24.3 points per game — highlighted by a scorching 37-point eruption in their most recent clash during the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup on August 8, 2025.

However, head coach Judd Flavell and the rest of the New Zealand squad proved on Wednesday night, in front of a raucous crowd at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, that international basketball is a chess match built on adjustments.

Determined to finally crack the win column of the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, the Tall Blacks flipped the script — not only securing their first victory of the qualifiers but also finally silencing the longtime Barangay Ginebra import.

“He’s about 80 percent of our game plan.

“Traditionally, the Philippines would run a lot of triangle [offense]. We’re very familiar with it from the last three games we played against the Philippines. Wherever he is on the floor, we know the ball is coming back to Brownlee. It helps that we play each other a lot, and it obviously helps them to be familiar with our system,” Flavell said postgame.

When the final buzzer sounded, the stat sheet told a story that had little to do with Brownlee — who was held to just four points on 2-of-10 shooting and committed four turnovers, which proved decisive in Gilas’ first loss of the qualifiers.

Fueled by a suffocating defense, New Zealand finally broke through after a winless Window 1, claiming a hard-fought 69-66 victory to improve to a 1-2 record in the four-team group.

For Flavell, the win was more than just an end to the Tall Blacks’ dry spell — it was validation that the key to neutralizing Brownlee’s brilliance wasn’t matching him with another star player, but applying collective defensive grit.

Max Darling, Jordan Ngatai, Tyrell Harrison, and Sam Mennega all took turns limiting Brownlee throughout the highly physical 40-minute battle — a scheme that proved pivotal in the endgame as the 37-year-old import could not back up Dwight Ramos’ late-game stand.

“We know that he takes a lot of attention, he can score the basketball, and he’s a true international scorer. The intention is that we just have to be in touch with him all the time. If he’s involved in actions, we want to make sure there are two guys on him. He has to see a lot of bodies,” Flavell explained.

“It’s more than them, though, because Brownlee is a very good facilitator and he does shoot the ball well, so everybody has to be in the right spot. He’s a big part of the game plan for sure.”

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