MARCIO Lassiter has moved even closer to becoming the PBA’s three-point king as he now stands at No. 2 on the all-time list of three-pointers made in the PBA.
But he could have actually broken the record much earlier had he not fallen ill in the early stages of the 49th Season Governors’ Cup.
Lassiter contracted food poisoning SMB's season debut against Phoenix last August 21, forcing him to miss the first two games of the season. And even in his return, the 37-year-old found it hard to regain his usual rhythm after losing 12 lbs, and it showed in the statistics.
READ PBA stats dilemma over four-point shot as Marcio chases record
In his first game of the season against Barangay Ginebra last August 27, Lassiter only played six minutes and 51 seconds, didn’t score, and missed his only three of the game.
Lassiter played more minutes in the NLEX first-round game in Cagayan De Oro City last August 31, but was still off when he scored just three points, making only one of his five three-point attempts.
Lassiter said it was only in his last two games that he felt much better when he regained his strength from the weight that he lost.
“As soon as I got sick, I wanted to be there for my teammates. But when you lose like 12 pounds, it’s kinda hard to get back to it, regain my strength,” said Lassiter.
“By our out-of-town game against NLEX, I was feeling okay. Pretty much the last two games, I was almost pretty much normal. That’s why I had a slow start to the first three games,” said Lassiter.
When asked whether his illness affected his shooting, Lassiter said yes.
“I didn’t have the legs. I was really feeling it. I was trying not to put pressure on myself because I knew part of it is I just wasn’t there yet strength-wise. Thankful for coach Jorge [Gallent] for trusting in me and I knew I had to back it up and just keep putting the hardwork in. Right now, I feel a lot better,” said Lassiter.
Against Rain or Shine last Thursday, Lassiter was able to hit a pair of threes on five attempts for six points in 14 minutes and 47 seconds of play, before his numbers really jacked up on Wednesday on his way to going up to No. 2 surpassing Allan Caidic, who has 1,242 in his career.
Lassiter tallied a conference-high 17 points and shot 4-of-7 from threes in 35 minutes and 53 seconds of action in San Miguel’s 119-114 victory over NLEX.
The San Miguel sniper said he wasn’t thinking about surpassing Caidic's career mark before the game.
“Coming in tonight, my expectation was to win. I tried to keep my mind off of it. At the same time, our team knows and I was thankful for coach for drawing up great plays for me as well as my teammates to find me. Just to be in this elite status is quite amazing. I’m just truly grateful and thankful.”
“The most important is to get the win. That’s what we needed to do tonight and it was a great win tonight,” Lassiter said.
Marcio 8 shy of Alapag
Now that he is only eight shy of breaking Jimmy Alapag’s all-time record of 1,260 - a milestone he could break in two games beginning with the game against Barangay Ginebra on Sunday, Lassiter is keeping the same mindset.
“I just try my best not to think about it every night. It’s a good thing that I’m always making the extra passes and knowing that the ball would find me. And tonight, that’s what happened,” said Lassiter.
“Other than that, it’s one step at a time. Try to do what’s needed. Coach expects a lot in all of us and we’ve got to prove it to him. We have to be there with each other and everyone just have to stick in there and continue to play well,” said Lassiter.
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