LUCENA - Allen Durham felt the Meralco Bolts played below from the form that made them reach this point of the PBA Governors' Cup after absorbing a 102-87 loss to Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in Game 1 of their best-of-seven finals Friday here.
The Bolts fell behind by 17 in the first half after dealing with shooting woes before a comeback try led by Durham in the third was wasted when they allowed the Kings to turn the series opener into a rout.
"We didn't shoot the ball well at all. You can't beat a team like Ginebra and not shoot the ball well," Durham said after the game held at the Quezon Convention Center.
"We're just kinda lazy. We didn't play our game well tonight."
Durham was also part of Meralco's struggles, missing 12 of 18 shots in the first half. But the reigning Best Import picked up steam in the third when he scored 12 of his 27 in that period, putting the Bolts within four, 75-71.
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But Greg Slaughter scored an uncontested slam to end that quarter, and Ginebra scored six straight to start the fourth to end the competitive phase of Game 1.
"We actually fought back in the game but we had some crucial turnovers. That just killed us. If you turn the ball over against a team like this, they'll run out and it's not gonna end well for you," Durham said.
He remains confident that the Bolts can redeem themselves in Sunday's Game 2 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, though Durham mentioned one aspect that they will have to improve on.
"We've been rebounding really well the whole conference, and for whatever reason we let them grab 21 offensive rebounds," said Durham, whose team allowed Ginebra to grab 59 rebounds overall compared to 40 for the Bolts.
"We just didn't play our game and it showed. They beat us by a lot. So we gotta get back to work," added Durham. (JT)
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