MATAPOS magwagi ng kampeonato na magkasama para sa San Miguel Beer-Alab Pilipinas sa nakaraang Asean Basketball League, magiging magkalaban naman sa pagkakataong ito sina San Miguel import Renaldo Balkman at Ginebra import Justin Brownlee sa finals ng 2018 PBA Commissioners Cup.

Aminado s i Br ownlee na kakaiba ang kanyang nararamdaman sa paghaharap nila ni Balkman.

“I guess it’s a little weird from being teammates a couple months ago, he’s on the other side now. He’s my brother for life,” ani Brownlee.

“Just a couple of months ago, me and him was like Batman and Robin.”

Ngunit, kinakailangan aniya na matugunan nila ang hamon ng kanilang trabaho sa ngalan ng propesyunalismo.

“I know it’s gonna be a dogfight out there when we go in between those four lines [of the court],” pahayag naman ni Balkman.

“We still gotta go out there and do what we’re supposed to do as a team. Whatever we need to do, whatever Coach Leo [Austria] tells us is the game plan, we gotta execute it and we gotta play hard,” aniya.

“I’ll tell him give it his all and I will do the same,” ayon pa kay Brownlee.

Ngunit, asahan ang pagbabalik ng pagkakaibigan sa pagkatapos ng kampeonato.

“At the end of the day, win, lose, or draw, whoever wins we’ll still gonna be friends, brothers — whatever you’re gonna call ’em — on and off the court,” wika ni Balkman.

-Marivic Awitan