Durham tells Meralco teammates: Remember the pain of losing to Ginebra
Allen Durham feels there’s unfinished business the Meralco Bolts have to settle in the PBA Governors’ Cup.
The reigning best import of the season-ending conference is raring to complete the task of winning it all as the Bolts begin their campaign against the Blackwater Elite on Friday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“We came up short last time and we will make the most out of this opportunity to contend again for the title,” said Durham, who led Meralco to its first-ever Finals last year before losing to crowd favorite Barangay Ginebra.
GlobalPort is also looking to go deep into the playoffs of the import-flavored tournament as the Batang Pier parade former Georgetown Hoya Jabril Trawick opposite the Rain Or Shine Elasto Painters in the 7 p.m. match.
Challenging Trawick at the low blocks is JD Weatherspoon, who will suit up for the Elasto Painters after previous stints in Scandinavia, particularly in Norway and Finland.
Before he left the Bolts in the previous Governors Cup, Durham told his teammates not to forget that miserable feeling of losing their Game 6 defeat at the hands of the Kings.
They won the opener of that best-of-seven series and even went up, 2-1, but collapsed in the last three games, fueling the fire in Durham to redeem the Bolts this time around.
“We were hungry back then and I hope we still feel the same way in this tournament,” said Durham.
The Elite will bank heavily on Trevis Simpson in the conference that set a height limit of 6-foot-5 for imports.
Simpson, untouched in the 2013 NBA Draft, is an athletic wingman who played pro ball in Greece before Blackwater tapped his services.
Just like Elite, the Elasto Painters and the Batang Pier all bowed out early last year and didn’t make it to the playoffs.
Arnold Van Opstal will debut with the Batang Pier in the lane after San Miguel traded the Filipino-German to the Batang Pier for shooting guard Von Pessumal.
