Often, engine braking (in gear, above maybe 1000rpm, operating temperature, foot off the gas) turns fuel injectors off. If you do a gentle downshift, not to absurd rpm and with a good revmatch and smooth release, you're good. Many automatic transmissions automatically engine brake...if it were so bad, surely they would just shift into neutral whenever you stepped on the brake (though that would be cool, to have easy access to neutral in an automatic).
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