NO one would like to be struck with amnesia, but Meralco doesn’t mind having some temporary memory loss as it takes on Blackwater on Thursday night in their PBA Governors’ Cup quarterfinal matchup sudden death at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
The twice-to-beat Bolts failed at their first crack at advancing to the semifinals after surrendering a 92-91 in the first game, no thanks to Allein Maliksi’s clutch performance.
Two days later, the Bolts are coming in as if they have no memory of their disappointing defeat as they take their second shot at dispatching their stubborn foes at 7 p.m.
“It’s the playoffs,” Jared Dillinger said. We’re not taking them lightly. They’re not a bad team. It’s going to be tough and now, it’s going to be anyone’s game, so we just got to get ready, have a short-term memory, and forget about (Tuesday).”
The winner marches on to the Final Four and seal a best-of-five showdown against Star, which eliminated lower seed NLEX in just one game also last Tuesday.
Looking back one last time on their loss, Bolts import Allen Durham blamed their uncharacteristic defensive lapses, which he stressed they have to minimize to finish off the Elite.
“We're doing lot of dumb stuff on defense,” the reigning Best Import said. “We just weren't playing like ourselves.”
Durham was his usual self, scattering 18 points, 21 boards, seven assists, and two blocks, likewise scoring on the putback that gave the Bolts their last taste of the lead before Maliksi retaliated with the game-winning jumper.
Durham is confident the loss only made the Bolts, last year’s losing finalist, more determined to get over the hump.
“Maybe it's good that we lost,” Durham said. “Right now, we still got a chance, we're still twice-to-beat. We'll play better on Thursday.”
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