ANTIPOLO, Philippines – The costly Allen Durham turnover that doomed Meralco in Game 3 against TNT of their best-of-five semifinals affair in the PBA Governors’ Cup is a thing of the past now. 

That is after the super import carried the scoring cudgels in the Bolts’ 95-83 Game 4 victory on Saturday, December 21, that tied the series at 2-2 and set up a do-or-die match for the finals berth. 

Durham proved to be a hard code to crack for the KaTropa as he delivered 36 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 assists in nearly 43 minutes of play. 

“I’m happy that we got a good game, I can kind of put that behind me. Hopefully you guys put that behind too because it’s kind of embarrassing,” Durham told reporters about his Game 3 blunder. 

“But I’m happy for the win and we look forward to Game 5.”

The two-time Best Import of the Conference had a chance to tie the game late in Game 3 but instead committed a turnover when he fired a pass towards Cliff Hodge, who was not inside the playing court. 

Instead of dwelling on his mistake, Durham turned his focus on Game 4, where he dominated and outplayed TNT counterpart KJ McDaniels, who had 26 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 steals. 

But Durham, just like the way he issues assists on the way to triple-double games, dished out the credit to his Meralco teammates. 

“I’m proud of them. We knew TNT was going to try to hit us with a knockout punch and we knew we had to weather the storm – not only weather the storm but send our own punch as well,” Durham said. 

“Our guys did it and I’m proud of them.”

Falling short of a third straight Governors’ Cup finals appearance last season, the Bolts seek to advance when they meet the KaTropa in Game 5 on Monday, December 23, at the Ynares Center here. 

“We’re just trying to get back and finish it this year,” said Durham, who eyes to reach the finals of the season-ending conference for the third time in the last 4 years. – Rappler.com