Allen Durham was clearly disappointed with how Game Five had veered away from the Meralco Bolts. They had been in contention for the majority of the match, until the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel cast their spell and locked them down in the last six minutes.
“We knew they’ll come out really hard and attack us really hard and everything like that,” recalled Durham, who had 27 points and 19 rebounds, “In the third quarter, we were right there and they just pulled away in the last few minutes.”
The reigning Best Import’s frustration did not stem solely from the collapse that he and the Orangemen had suffered in the closing minutes of the bout. For Durham, it was the way whistles were blown in the last stretch.
“I think down the stretch, officiating was really bad,” the 29-year-old lashed out, while shaking his head in disbelief, “I mean, I’m not gonna blame it on the officials, we had our part too, but you can’t call a Finals game like that.
“We can’t have it like that on Wednesday,” he added, as the Bolts had 29 fouls overall, seven more than the Barangay.
Wednesday is a must-win for the Bolts, as a loss will mean the end of their dreams to upend the defending Governors’ Cup champions. But most importantly for the Michigan native, he just wishes for one thing in Game Six.
“Preferably [we will] not play five-against-eight with the officiating,” hoped the all-around six-foot-five forward, who is carrying the load for Meralco in the series with norms of 25.0 points and 18.6 rebounds.
“And we just got to play better.”
