THERE is one rare moment a two-time PBA scoring champion like CJ Perez knows how to defer to a teammate much more veteran and much more clutch than him.
The third-year playmaker admitted not hesitating to pass the ball to the waiting hands of Marcio Lassiter with the game on the line in the waning seconds of San Miguel’s Philippine Cup game against Alaska Wednesday night at the Don Honorio Ventura State University gym.
Marcio Lassiter game-winner
The swift decision was a timely one as Lassiter buried the game-winning basket in SMB's 101-100 win that snapped the life out of the Aces’ bid for a quarterfinals berth.
Perez finished with a team-high 20 points, but deferred to his 34-year-old teammate who he said has a much better shooting accuracy than him.
The final play was supposed to be for big man June Mar Fajardo, but Alaska’s defense collapsed on the six-time MVP that forced him to swing the ball outside.
“Alam ko nandun si Marcio. Alam ko lagi siyang nasa corner,” Perez recalled about the broken play that led to Lassiter’s clutch three-point shot.
“Mas tiwala ako sa shooting niya kaysa sa shooting ko, kaya pinasa ko na lang sa kanya.”
Good decision as coach Leo Austria said of Perez’s last-second assist as Lassiter went to finish 2-of-4 from three-point range for 13 points, while Perez was just 1-of-3.
Overall, Perez shot better from the floor than Lassiter, going 47 percent (8-of-17) compared to Super Marcio’s 23 percent (3-of-13 including 1-9 from two-point range).
Perez added six rebounds and three assists as he now looks forward to his first-ever PBA playoffs stint.
“Kailangan naming ipanalo itong game na ito para (andun) yung momentum papuntang playoffs,” he said.
San Miguel enters the quarterfinals as the no. 4 seeded team.
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