If there’s one thing Allen Durham dwells on in Meralco’s 113-95 loss to TNT on Tuesday, it’s definitely that disastrous third quarter.
“We came out in the third quarter a little flat and TNT, they’re the number one team for a reason, and they capitalized off of our mistakes and you saw what happened,” he said.
The KaTropa fired on all cylinders in that third frame, turning a close 45-43 halftime edge to an 84-63 lead near the end of the period thanks to an explosive 39-point outpour. That proved to be the Bolts undoing, surrendering Game 1 of their best-of-5 semifinals series in the 2016 PBA Governors’ Cup.
There was no doubt that Durham gave his all, finishing with 26 points, 21 rebounds, seven assists, and three blocks in the game. The hulking import is hoping he will be aided with more reinforcements in Game 2 on Thursday.
“A couple of our main guys, they need to step it up in Game 2,” he said, while also calling out the team’s defense which allowed TNT to shoot 15-of-30 from threes. “They’re all shooters, so we got to make adjustments because, if they keep shooting like that, it’s going to be a short series.”
Despite the loss, Durham is still positive that Meralco can equalize the series on Game 2.
“It’s a series, there’s nothing we can do about this game so I’m pretty sure we’ll bounce back,” he said. “Nobody’s giving us a chance, but the beauty of basketball is you still got to play the game. We’re the underdogs but we still got a chance. We got to do better in Game 2 and I think we’ll make this series competitive.”