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With Meralco’s last runner-up finish on his mind, Allen Durham is looking for a better finals showing from the Bolts this time out.
After all, this not anybody’s first time any more—including him.
“Last year was a first for everybody, aside from Jimmy (Alapag) and a couple of others. It was my first Finals in my pro career,” he said.
Alapag, who is now an assistant coach, Reynel Hugnatan, and Jonathan Uyloan were the lone players from that crew which had prior Finals experience, while Jared Dillinger was limited due to his hamstring injury.
That left much of the responsibility of leading the Bolts in the champions round to the 29-year-old behemoth Durham.
Unfortunately, Meralco fell short in six games against Ginebra capped by the biggest heartbreaker of all—Justin Brownlee’s title-clinching three to beat the buzzer in Game 6.
It was painful of a moment to swallow, but Durham said that the Bolts, more matured this time, look back at the loss as a rallying point in another duel against the Kings for the title.
And not only did the players gain experience from their first final stint, the Bolts also added veterans Ranidel de Ocampo and Joseph Yeo to virtually intact roster .
“I’ve forgotten about it, but it’s still kinda fueling me to get the win and hold the trophy. Now that we got the experience, we know what to expect,” he said.
That includes the Kings’ “home court” advantage with Durham saying they have figured out how to tune the raucous crowd out.
“We played Ginebra in that series (last year) and we played Ginebra this conference. The crowd is not going to be a factor. I think that experience alone is gonna help us a lot,” he said.
But he knows that amid their budding rivalry, it’s inevitable for emotions to spill onto the court.
“I do think it’s going to be tense, especially with the history that we’re building and it’s a rematch. We just have to understand that it is going to be a long series, we can never be too high or too low. We just gotta stay focused and wait for the outcome in the end,” he said.