Allen Durham located Cliff Hodge wide open in the right corner, so he did the logical thing and swung the basketball towards the veteran Fil-American forward.
The play came in the waning seconds of Game Three of the 2019 PBA Governors’ Cup semifinal series between the Meralco Bolts and TNT KaTropa on Thursday night, and with the Bolts staring at a 97-100 deficit.
It was a great find by the two-time Best Import, as his pass could potentially lead to the triple that would tie the game again and give them a chance to take a 2-1 series lead.
There was one problem, however: Hodge was not one of the five Orangemen on the court.
Instead, Hodge was among those on the bench, but he was standing near the said spot with his hands up. It confused Durham, and unfortunately, that dime turned into a turnover with 11.3 ticks left.
That error proved costly for the Bolts as they lost, 97-102, falling behind in the series.
The 6-foot-4 bruiser explained that he was trying to help by instructing his fellow Bolts to take a shot. Unfortunately, though, it led to something else, but Hodge is taking responsibility.
“I was hoping someone’s gonna pull a shot. I was hoping we would’ve made a shot to put it on overtime. AD saw my jersey and he thought I was on the court. So it was my fault,” said the 31-year-old.
Hodge and the Bolts are now moving on from the stinging defeat, and they now have their sights in Game Four on Saturday, December 21, where they plan to extend the series to a decider.
“We don’t want to lose. So we’re gonna give it all we got. They made their adjustments, we’ll make ours and hopefully, we can push it to Game Five.”
