Two-time Best Import Allen Durham hopes to finally lead the Meralco Bolts to the 'Promised Land' on his third try when he makes his return for the season-ending PBA Governors' Cup which starts next month.
Coach Norman Black confirmed Durham is returning for the season's final conference after the Bolts' campaign in the Commissioner's Cup ended Wednesday with a quarterfinal loss to Barangay Ginebra San Miguel.
Durham led Meralco to the finals of the last two Governors' Cups but lost both times to Ginebra.
"We know AD is a good player, so he'll make us very competitive," said Black.
"I'm sure we'll be a much faster team with him around, because this conference was a conference where we didn't get up and down the floor very much, and I'm hoping that we can take advantage of the talents of guys like Baser and Newsome by speeding up the game a little bit," he added.
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Meralco continued the trend of reaching the playoffs of import-flavored conferences by going 7-4 in the eliminations of the Commissioner's Cup behind the big presence of former Best Import Arinze Onuaku.
Ginebra, however, cut short Meralco's campaign after sweeping their best-of-three quarterfinal affair.
Still, Black paid tribute to the things Onuaku provided this conference.
"I'm very appreciative of what Arinze gave us this conference," Black said. "We're coming off an 11th place finish in the All-Filipino, so making it into the quarterfinals was some progress on our part."(JT)
