IT’S a move Allen Durham certainly doesn’t welcome.
“I would never foul anybody like that,” said the Meralco import of the hard foul committed on him by NLEX's Dave Marcelo during a breakaway play where he hit Durham hard on the head midway through the third quarter of their PBA Governors Cup game on Sunday.
“I guess he thought he had a chance to get the ball. But it’s over. No hard feelings,” said the reigning two-time Best Import.
Instead, the move only awakened the monster in Durham, who proceeded to score 16 of his game-high 36 points in the payoff period as the Bolts finally ended their skid with a 108-105 comeback win over NLEX Road Warriors at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Durham had 18 rebounds and seven rebounds as Meralco notched win no. 2 in eight outings that put to a halt the team’s six-game losing streak.
The 30-year-old Durham said he’s not taking things personally against Marcelo about the incident that took place at the 6:02 mark of the third quarter and the Bolts trailing, 58-51.
“I’m OK so I just move on,” he said.
Marcelo was whistled for a flagrant foul penalty 1, a call which both coaches Norman Black and Yeng Guiao didn’t agree on and resulted in the two being given technical fouls after a shouting match.
But for Durham, the most important thing is Meralco completing a comeback from as much as a 16-point fourth quarter deficit to remain in the hunt for a quarterfinals berth.
“We didn’t play perfect but I’m proud of our guys that they didn’t give up,” he said. “We just show relentlessness and just kept fighting. And just what happened that we kept fighting for 48 minutes.”
While the win raised the confidence of the Bolts, Durham said the playoffs is still farthest from their minds now.
“When we think too far ahead that’s when mistakes happen,” he said. “We do have to think about getting better and take one game at a time.”
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