MARCIO Lassiter sank six triples in San Miguel’s rout of Ginebra last Sunday and became the new record holder for most three-pointers made in PBA history.
Lassiter, 37, moved past erstwhile leader Jimmy Alapag (1,250) with a 1,254 total, his second trey in the first quarter of the Beermen’s 131-82 win doing the trick.
Aside from setting the new PBA record, Lassiter was also named the Pilipinas Live-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week after averaging 17 points and shooting 15-of-27 from threes for Sept. 10-15.
Lassiter had a slow start in the conference after falling prey to food poisoning, forcing him to miss the first two games of the team, including its season-opener against Phoenix last Aug. 21.
“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 and regain my strength,” Lassiter said.
“I didn’t have the legs. I was really feeling it. I was trying not to put pressure on myself because I knew I just wasn’t there yet, strength-wise. Thankful for coach Jorge for trusting in me and I knew I had to back it up and just keep putting the hard work in,” he added.
Lassiter was back to his shooting ways last week.
Last Wednesday, Lassiter surged past Allan Caidic to rise to second after making four in their 119-114 win over NLEX, then moved two threes shy of tying Alapag by converting five in their 139-127 victory over Phoenix last Friday.
On setting the record in the first quarter against Ginebra, Lassiter said: “I’m just happy to get it over with so that I can really focus on the game because we have a big assignment against Ginebra. I’m just kinda happy that it is here. A lot of fans witnessed it. I’m happy for them.
“I’m truly honored and blessed to be in this position. Words can’t describe how I feel. I’m overwhelmed with a lot of emotions right now,” said Lassiter, who edged the likes of Schonny Winston of Converge and teammates CJ Perez and June Mar Fajardo for the plum handed by reporters from broadsheets, tabloids, and online platforms covering the PBA beat.
