MARCIO Lassiter made sure to keep his emotions in check in San Miguel Beer's 99-88 Game Three victory over Barangay Ginebra on Wednesday night that put the Beermen back in control in the PBA Philippine Cup Finals.
After sitting out the fourth and overtime periods of Game Two due to his ejection for taunting Sol Mercado, Lassiter focused on just his performance all game long on Wednesday as he finished with 16 points, six boards, two steals, and one assist.
The SMB sniper, who hit two three-pointers, ended up seeing the most action among all the players on both teams in Game Three, just four seconds short of playing 42 minutes.
“No, there wasn’t any (extra celebration). I kept (my hand) low,” Lassiter said with a chuckle after the game. “I had the hand up and I was about to, so I had the left hand stopping it for some reason.
“But we’ll what happens in Game Four,” he added. “There’ll be more.”
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For behaving himself, Lassiter and the Beermen reaped the reward of a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, halfway through capturing a third straight all-Filipino championship.
“It’s a good win. We made stops at the end, that’s what’s most important,” Lassiter said after SMB finished the game on a 12-0 run.
“But we know it’s not going to be easy,” he was quick to add. “So we just got to make adjustments for Game Four and just see what we did wrong and try to correct them.”
If there was something Lassiter wasn't happy about, it was his three turnovers in Game Three.
“I could’ve done better,” the Filipino-American wingman admitted. “I know we made a few mistakes on coverages, so we got to figure those things out, and maybe tweak more changes in Game Four.”