Durham vows to lay it all on the line to help Meralco extend semis series

MANILA, Philippines—It’s not yet the finals, but Allen Durham is going out in Game 4 like the championship depends on it.

Durham’s Meralco Bolts are a loss away from bowing out of the race to the PBA Finals against TNT after a tough Game 3 101-97 loss on Thursday, but the import is far from giving up.

“We got to lay it out on the line. We can’t worry about Game 5 or anything, this is our championship, this is our final, we got to win it,” said Durham.

Game 4 is Saturday with TNT getting a chance to wrap it up with a 2-1 lead.

Durham, who has yet to win a title in the PBA, has two Best Import awards under his belt and he wants nothing more to get that big shiny trophy for Meralco.

Standing in the way of that are KaTropa stars KJ McDaniels, Troy Rosario, and Jayson Castro.

McDaniels has averaged 35.7 points and 12.3 rebounds while Castro normed 13.7 points and 6.0 assists a game while Rosario has used his 6-foot-7 frame to bully Meralco’s smaller wings to the tune of 15 points a game.

Meralco had some success slowing down McDaniels in Game 3 when the former Houston Rocket shot an atrocious 1-of-1 including a 0-of-9 start.

McDaniels, through sheer hard work, eventually got his share of points and finished with 18 points with 14 boards.

“I think KJ had 18 or 20 points but the other players like Troy stepped up and had a big game,” said Durham of Rosario who had 25 points in Game 3.

“We got to be able to contain both of them as well as Jayson. I know it’s easier said than done, but if we want to win that’s what we got to do.”