Allen Durham wasn’t particularly frustrated even after the Meralco Bolts lost their twice-to-beat edge to the Blackwater Elite in the 2017 Governor’s Cup quarterfinal opener. But he did not hold back from criticizing how the team played on the defensive end.
“Just the whole game, we were kinda just out of it,” rued the six-foot-five forward after their razor thin, 91-92 loss, Tuesday night at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“[We were] doing a lot of dumb stuff on defense. We just weren’t playing like ourselves.”
And his assessment speaks true of what the numbers had yielded.
The Bolts let the Elite shoot 46 percent from the field, with 11 shots coming from beyond the arc. But on top of those is their biggest defensive lapse in the game — allowing Allein Maliksi to nail the go-ahead bucket with 9.5 ticks left.
“We left a lot of wide-open shots, and that team is filled with shooters. And if you do that, they’re gonna knock it down,” rued the reigning Best Import, who produced 18 points, 21 rebounds, and seven assists in the defeat.
Still, the Bolts have one more chance to redeem themselves this Thursday at the SMART Araneta Coliseum. Durham hopes that a better version of both him and his side will come out in order for them to close out their dangerous foes.
“Maybe it’s good that we lost. Right now, we still got a chance, we’re still twice-to-beat,” shared the Michigan-native.
“We just gotta play better on Thursday, [have] better energy, and be ready for Blackwater.”
