MANILA, Philippines — Payback time.
It was the underlining theme of Game Three of the PBA Governors Cup Finals Wednesday. And Meralco was on the enjoying end.
Within the 94-81 win by the Bolts, there were cagers having their moment, too. Jared Dillinger finally finding his shot; Reynel Hugnatan ripping through the veil of anonymity anew; and import Allen Durham getting his revenge over his counterpart.
After his shot was erased twice in the first half, Durham went on a tear. The two-time Best Import emptied 23 of his 38 points starting the third period to keep Ginebra within Meralco’s striking range. By the final frame, he had willed the Bolts past the Kings.
“We made a couple of adjustments. We found out how they were guarding us,” Durham said. “Basically they’re packing the paint. Props to Rey, he really came through really big for us.”
Durham, as the game wound down, erased Brownlee’s layup when the Kings were looking to mount a rally of their own.
“A little payback,” the Bolts big man said with a smirk. “It felt good. He made me look foolish earlier. It felt good to pay him back a little bit.”
The defensive play encapsulated — if not eclipsed in a good way— the commendable night Durham showed. In nearly 44 minutes of action, he collected 20 rebounds, dished out four assists, blocked five shots and stole the leather twice.
But despite all that and keeping the Bolts back in contention in the best-of-seven series, the American reinforcement said his crew hasn’t done anything significant.
“We won a game tonight but we haven’t really done anything significant. We just extended the game a little bit,” he shared.
“Now we get to Game Four, we win that and we have a series,” Durham added. “The whole thing changes. So we got to focus on Game Four.”
The Bolts-Kings saga resumes on Friday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, shortly after the PBA mounts its annual Leo Awards.