Allen Durham has been carrying much of the load for the Meralco Bolts in the 2017 Governor’s Cup Finals. But in Games Three and Four, the reigning Best Import has been feeling a sigh of relief, as local support is finally clicking.
“I had a lot of help,” shared the 29-year-old, who had 28 points, 18 rebounds, two steals, and two blocks in their series-tying 85-83 victory on Friday night, where a series-high four Orangemen contributed double-digit outputs.
“Fortunately tonight our guys were hitting shots and we had a lot of help. I had a lot of help. It was definitely a lot easier tonight,” added the versatile forward.
Game Four was the best time possible for the locals to finally aid their import. From Baser Amer, to Chris Newsome, and to Game Three spark plug Reynel Hugnatan, Durham has plenty of reasons to smile in the win.
And speaking of Amer and Hugnatan, the two cagers were responsible for helping the Bolts avoid a deep 1-3 deficit. Amer, on his part, sank a huge corner triple that lifted the Bolts to an 83-81 lead with 1:16 to go in the bout.
“Baser… Hey I told him, ‘just keep playing, keep playing, keep shooting, it’s gonna come.’ And he made the biggest play of the game, he made that three. I’m proud of him,” lauded Durham of the sophomore guard, who had 11 markers.
Hugnatan, meanwhile, was part of the pivotal play in the final seconds. His drop pass to a cutting Durham underneath led to the latter’s game-winning bucket with 46.6 seconds left to play, which eventually settled the final score.
“Well Papa Rey, he’s been doing it for years and years and years,” said Durham of the 38-year-old, who had 14 points and four assists. “So you know, just him getting out the opportunity to play and now he’s actually playing good.
“He’s really helping us out and I think he’s a game-changer for us.”
As Meralco coach Norman Black put it, “We have a series.” Winning two games is clearly a momentum shift, but for the Michigan native, this does not guarantee anything, especially now that the series is back to square one.
“With two great teams, momentum don’t mean nothing,” Durham warned. “You just gotta come out and play. They won two games in a row, they had momentum. We came back and won two games, now we got momentum.
“So it really don’t mean nothing. We still gotta play and execute.”
