MARCIO Lassiter said he was humbled to be in the company of the greatest shooters in PBA history after moving up on the all-time list of three-point shots made on Sunday night at the Philsports Arena.
The veteran shooting guard made 4-of-5 from beyond the arc to finish with 14 points in San Miguel’s 120-100 blowout win over Northport.
Lassiter dislodged James Yap at No. 4
The four three pointers enabled Lassiter to move past two-time MVP James Yap to No. 4 on the all-time list. Lassiter now has a total of 1,197 treys while Yap had been relegated to No. 5 with 1,194.
It was the second time this conference the 36-year-old wingman moved up a place in the standings after previously supplanting retired great Ronnie Magsanoc from fifth place.
“Just to be in the same breath of the legends that were before me, even to be in the same platform, these are the guys I’ve played with, some of them you know. I looked up to them when I was in my rookie year and coming up,” said Lassiter afterwards.
“Truly blessed and thankful for that.”
Lassiter said he was fortunate he’s almost injury-free since he began playing in the league in 2011.
“I was able to contribute to the team and just make it to this point,” said the Fil-Am forward, who has won 10 championships in 12 seasons so far with the San Miguel franchise.
Lassiter also clarified he wasn’t actually conscious about surpassing the record of Yap going to the game against Northport.
“You know how it is when you got the first one to go, you kind of thinking it keeps on going. I was fortunate to hit my first one and it just kind of went from there,” he said.
Lassiter tied Yap’s record at the 7:13 mark of the first quarter, before adding two more before the period ended to finally land at no. 4 overall.
His outside shooting likewise helped the Beermen dictate the tempo of the game as they already had 36 points by the time the first quarter ended.
“I was thankful I got it out of the way pretty quick. So I don’t have to think about it,” Lassiter said.
Tenorio record is next
With the way he’s been shooting of late, Lassiter has the chance to move up further at No. 3 currently occupied by Barangay Ginebra’s LA Tenorio (1,211).
The No. 1 and 2 spots are held by retired greats Jimmy Alapag (1,250) and Allan Caidic (1,242).
Can he surpass all three and become No. 1 of all time?
“That number seems like to be right there, but trust me it’s not going to be easy,” said Lassiter. “I just have to continue on my craft. I’m not really thinking about that, I’m more focused on the win but if I can make it, that would be great.”
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