GIVEN the opening it needed, San Miguel will be banking on its rich experience as former PBA Philippine Cup champion heading to its do-or-die semifinal match against top seed TnT Tropang Giga.
Veteran gunner Marcio Lassiter said the Beermen’s familiarity with each other and deep playoff experience should bode well in their first Game 7 in two years, or since winning this same tournament against Magnolia in the 2019 finals.
“We have a lot of experience coming into these Game 7s,” said the 34-year-old wingman after San Miguel forged the winner-take-all showdown with a 103-90 win on Friday at the Don Honorio Ventura State University gym.
“We have to ride this momentum going into Game 7. Keep on believing. We knew this knockout game today, and we need to put all our effort on this one.”
Lassiter, part of San Miguel’s deadly starting unit that won for the franchise five of the last six all-Filipino championships, led the way for the team with 19 points and was spot-on from three-point range, where he hit 5 of 8 shots.
He added five rebounds, three assists, and four steals as the Beermen kept their hopes alive of making it back to the finals of the league’s scrown jewel after being booted out in the playoffs of the same conference last season.
But Lassiter added there’s no time for the Beermen to celebrate the win as they only had a day to prepare for a TnT side which he expects to go all-out as well for Sunday’s all-important encounter.
'War'
“It’s going to be tough. It’s going to be a quick turnaround, and we also have to put all our effort into this next game coming on Sunday,” he said.
“So it’s going to be a war out there.”
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