Aug 20, 2018

Durham disappointed with loss to TNT, urges Bolts to play 'championship' defense

ANTIPOLO - Allen Durham called on his teammates to pick up their defensive mentality after multiple lapses down the stretch cost the Meralco Bolts a victory against TNT KaTropa Sunday night at the Ynares Center.

The Bolts were poised to win their second straight win in the PBA Governors' Cup when they took an 81-74 lead with under five minutes remaining. But they couldn't hold on to it and the KaTropa capitalized on the opportunity and unleashed a furious rally behind clutch baskets from Jayson Castro, Roger Pogoy and Terrence Romeo.

Not even Durham's near triple-double of 27 points, 22 rebounds and eight assists were enough to prevent Meralco from receiving a rude awakening.

"If you gonna be a championship team, you gotta find a way to win that type of game," Durham said. "There's just no excuses for the loss tonight."

Durham was quick to point out Meralco's defense as inconsistent in the first two games.

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In Friday's 109-106 win against Columbian Dyip, the Bolts had to rally from 14 points down in the second quarter before staving off the Dyip's own comeback in the fourth to open the conference with a victory.

"We were not decisive about anything that we did tonight (vs TNT). We were like too hesitant on anything and our defense was too soft," he said.

"We gotta get mean, angry or something, you know. We're not gonna win a championship with a defense like that, even with the defense that we played on Friday. That's not championship defense."(JT)