Coming off a lackluster shooting in his Gilas Pilipinas return, Marcio Lassiter reminded everyone that he is still one of the most lethal snipers in the country today.
Shrugging of fatigue and playing through a busted left eyebrow, Lassiter returned to his mother team with a bang, racking up 28 points on 6-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc to lead the San Miguel Beermen to a huge 143-119 trouncing of tyhe winless Columbian Dyip, Friday night at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum.
This was a complete opposite of Lassiter’s national team stint, where he only scored a combined nine points on 2-of-12 three point clip in two games against Iran and Qatar, in the recently-concluded fourth window of the 2019 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
Defending himself, Lassiter declared that his outburst was just a testament of his chemistry with the team, nothing more and nothing less.
“I’m on a team I’ve been with for quite sometime.
“I got a pass-first point guard (Chris Ross). He’s always looking for our shooters. And just the chemistry is always something I’m more familiar with,” said the California State University-Fullerton standout, who also added two rebounds and seven assists in SMB’s 24-point win.
Aside from the short preparation time factor, defense was simply stiffer in international play compared to PBA, where he is already comfortable with any of the shots that he takes day in and day out, according to Lassiter.
“Given that we didn’t had that much time to prepare ourselves in FIBA, that was kind of hard. It’s totally different from where I’m playing in,” the six-year pro explained.
“The shots that I took were, you know, you’re not gonna get the same looks as I get here.”
Nevertheless, Lassiter said that his shooting woes should not take away the defense he showcased, which he asserted was ‘probably the best’ defensive game he ever had in his professional career.
“I’m still overall satisfied with the effort I gave because I gave more than one-hundred and one percent. My defense was probably the best defense I’ve played. And I know I’m capable of playing defense like that,” the 31-year-old sniper said.
Indeed, Lassiter played more than just on the offensive side, as he also averaged a solid 2.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals as a starting shooting guard of coach Yeng Guiao.
Lassiter is confident he can finally hit his mark for Gilas in the future, especially with improved chemistry and more preparation time.
“I just feel like if we can get more familiarize with the offense. Sharing the ball is probably key. You know, I can break down a lot of things but we still got to get some good chemistry going together and it’s a new team,” he added.
“Given credit, I think we did a great job with the amount of timing we had.”
San Miguel mentor Leo Austria echoed the same sentiments, assuring his vote of confidence in his misfiring ward, whom he expects to shoot the lights out in his future stints.
“If you noticed, si Marcio scouted eh. Every time he has the ball meron siyang tao sa harap eh.”
Since Lassiter is his most trusted gunner in San Miguel’s six-title conquest in the past 11 PBA conferences, Austria said that it’s more than just scoring and Lassiter truly showcased that with his commendable defense.
“Hindi mo makikita yung ginawa niyang depensa dun e, talagang duma-dive to the point na mag kawasak-wasak muka nya. Makikita mo paano siya dumipensa eh,” said the reigning Coach of the Year.
“He’s trying to be a stopper and he played well.”
