ANTIPOLO – Marcio Lassiter was one of the heroes for San Miguel in its crucial win over Magnolia on Sunday, but it wasn’t exactly his best shooting night.
Lassiter finished with eight points on 3-for-10 shooting from the field that included a 2-for-5 clip from threes. But once again, Lassiter hit the shots that mattered most to lift the Beermen to the 85-78 win over the Hotshots.
The Beermen evened their record to 4-4, strengthening their hold of eighth place in the team standings. The top eight will move to the quarterfinals.
READ Barroca sounds desperate talking about Magnolia's playoff fate
The win capped a difficult stretch for San Miguel where it lost four in a row – including two straight to Eastern in the EASL last December 18 and PBA last December 22. Just this week, the Beermen lost in the PBA to Barangay Ginebra and against Hiroshima Dragonflies in an away game in the EASL in Japan last Wednesday.
Lassiter hasn’t been his own shooting self in past games, until the final minutes of Sunday’s game where he got back to his usual ways.
Entering Sunday’s crucial tiff, Lassiter went 0-for-2 from the three-point distance in the 93-81 defeat against Barangay Ginebra last January 5. Surprisingly, it was his third game of the conference without a made three.
Lassiter even missed all his four three-pointers in the EASL road game against Hiroshima last Wednesday in a rare slump.
Lassiter actually reached the fourth quarter of the Magnolia game without a three-pointer made, missing all of his three tries. But in true ‘three-point king’ fashion, he kept shooting, knowing he would finally hit one, making sure he won’t go zero again for this match-up.
“This one was quite interesting just because I started off pretty cold,” said Lassiter. “I think my first shot [made] was in the third quarter. It takes a lot of confidence just to keep saying, ‘Keep shooting.’
“I know I have confidence in myself. I knew once I get one, I know I can get another one going. So I guess it’s better to make it at the end that in the beginning,” said Lassiter, who holds the record for most career threes in the history of the league.
Lassiter got open for his first three when Mark Barroca collapsed on June Mar Fajardo, sinking that shot to put SMB in the driver’s seat at 77-76 with 1:51 left.
“Right place, right time. That’s how I see it. Sometimes, the more you just keep moving, the chances are you can find a spot, and that’s what I did. I guess I kept him (defender) guessing where I was going to be. Good thing we got the offensive rebound, they kicked it out," Lassiter said.
The 10-time PBA champion knocked down another three, off an assist by CJ Perez, with 51.9 seconds left to hike the lead to four, 80-76.
“The second one, CJ made a great drive, kicked it out, drew two (defenders) and that was probably his 10th assist. So that was big for him. Endgame is just composure, keep trusting the process,” said Lassiter.
Difficult schedule
The 37-year-old Lassiter found his touch amid a difficult schedule including that aforementioned road game in Japan.
“It’s tough. But we’re all professionals at the end of the day. We try our best to get as much recovery. It’d be great if we had another extra day. But it is what it is," he said. Every night, we’re going to compete and give out our best effort.
"We know that it’s just going to make us stronger and better, and just learn through all these experiences,” said Lassiter.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
