For the past two games of the 2017 Commissioner’s Cup Finals, Marcio Lassiter was a non-factor for San Miguel Beermen, scoring a total of eight points on 5-for-19 from the floor. Making matters worse, Lassiter had shot 43 percent from downtown during the elimination round, but was a combined 0-for-11 during those matches.
Still, his teammates believed that he will breakout of his slump.
“Naniniwala kami na puputok din yan,” said teammate Arwind Santos last Friday, after SMB evened the series at a game apiece
And in Game Three on Sunday night at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum, the 6-foot-2 Fil-American sniper broke his dry spell.
Lassiter, despite shooting 7-of-18 from the field, finished with 16 points spiked by two triples alongside seven assists. And as he played his best game of the series so far, the Beermen won, 109-97, and are now ahead 2-1 in the title series.
“I’m just finding ways to attack, be more aggressive tonight and it helped me for tonight’s game,” said the 30-year-old Californian as he already had 12 attempts by halftime, more than the 10 and nine attempts he had in Game One and Two respectively.
Lassiter’s slump in the last two games was unusual, given that he has been identified as one of the league’s best shooters. But that slump was not much of a concern, as he acknowledged it as a stage every shooter goes through.
“All great shooters go through it,” iterated the Gilas Pilipinas pioneer.
“Ray Allen went through the same thing, [Stephen] Curry went through the same thing, Klay Thompson too, so all I can do is just to keep shooting.”
Most importantly, the Beermen are now two wins away from the Commissioner’s Cup crown, a title that has eluded the SMC franchise for the last 16 years. But, Lassiter was quick to point out that there is still a lot of work to do.
“This is a pivotal game. It puts us closer to our final goal but that doesn’t stop there,” said Lassiter. “We still have to come out with the same intensity or even more on Game Four. We want to put more pressure on TNT.
“Tonight, I think we got an all-around effort from everyone.”
