Allen Durham had an opportunity to tie the game in the waning moments of Game One of the 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup Finals between Meralco and Barangay Ginebra, Tuesday evening.
With the Bolts down by a field goal, 89-87, the former two-time Best Import drove from the left-wing, then attacked the defense of 6-foot-9 forward Japeth Aguilar as he looked to lay it in.
Aguilar, however, timed his shot and swatted it away with 13 seconds to go. That proved to be a big stop, since it paved the way for Justin Brownlee’s trip to the foul line with 11.3 ticks left.
Brownlee sank both of his freebies, and the Gin Kings walked away with the 91-87 win to draw first blood in the series.
For the hulking 6-foot-5 American, he believes that the referees should have called a foul against Aguilar for that block, claiming the athletic big man was “all over his shoulder”.
“The last seconds of the game… In my opinion, I thought that was a foul,” expressed Durham, who registered a triple-double of 25 points, 18 rebounds, and 10 assists in the defeat.
“The video made it look like a foul, he was all over my shoulder. But I guess the refs said he got more ball than body.”
But Durham isn’t pinning the blame on that single play. For him, another factor in the loss was that the Bolts’ shots weren’t falling — as evidenced by their 38.4-percent shooting from the field.
“Our shot wasn’t falling tonight. A couple of those shots fall, that kinda loosens up their defense a little bit,” said Durham, who also struggled on offense after shooting just 10-of-26 from the floor.
“You just gotta bounce back. I gotta shoot better. We got great contribution and I didn’t perform to the best of my ability. I gotta do better next game,” added the former NBA D-Leaguer.
Still, Meralco had a chance in the end, though it was unable to take full advantage. For the 31-year-old from Michigan, the Orangemen should finish the job next time.
“Even with the way that we shot and the missed plays we should have had, we still had a chance to win at the end. When we have that opportunity, we gotta take it,” Durham said.
“We gotta be able to pull those games out especially against a team like this. We’ll look at film, and see where else we can attack. We’ll come back stronger in Game Two.”
