Back in February 23 at the SMART Araneta Coliseum, Marcio Lassiter was the hero that the San Miguel Beermen badly needed to survive Kia Picanto’s major upset attempt, nailing a lay-up with 1.8 ticks left for a 108-106 victory.
Little did the Beermen know that 16 days later — at the very same venue — Lassiter would be their saving grace yet again, this time in the 2018 Philippine Cup semifinals against a depleted yet wily Barangay Ginebra San Miguel.
Lassiter’s tip-in off a June Mar Fajardo miss with 3.2 seconds left in overtime sent the reigning, defending All-Filipino champions to a 104-102 win over the Gin Kings, and had also sent them to a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven series.
“Sabi ko nga tsamba eh dahil instinct na ni Marcio ‘yun eh, just like what happened in our game against KIA,” reflected San Miguel head coach Leo Austria. “That is part of the play, but on the first movement, nagkaroon ng opportunity.
“Marcio talaga ang kukuha ng bola, and then he executed it well (pick-and-roll play), it happened na June Mar, na-miss niya ‘yung lay-up. But the presence of mind ni Marcio is always there, and na-put back niya.”
“We wanted to get some action in for the pick-and-roll and I just kinda saw June Mar roll and I’m surprised he’s open, honestly,” recalled Lassiter, on the other hand.
“I thought they were going to switch but they didn’t.
“I found June Mar and I just knew I had to finish the play,” furthered the sharpshooter. “If ever they did any switch, he might have gotten a block or something. I just wanna be there just to tip it in, that’s what happened.”
Even Lassiter acknowledged Austria’s claim that Sunday night’s comeback victory was sheer luck, saying that every given night against the Barangay will always be a tough one even if they have yet to field a complete roster.
“Every game is gonna be hard,” said the seven-year pro, who had 25 points and eight rebounds in Game Two. “We came out working extremely hard. We give credit to Ginebra, they played extremely well… A lot of guys stepped up.”
Lassiter has been showing up for San Miguel in this series, as he is now averaging 21.0 points on a 45-percent shooting clip. And he plans to sustain his run, especially in Game Three on Tuesday, where they aim to go up 3-0.
“I always want to play well. I want to continue to play team ball, just play our brand, just keep on playing San Miguel ball,” said the 30-year-old sniper.
“We want to continue attacking, and just play and keep being aggressive.”
