San Miguel Beer sniper Marcio Lassiter is glad to move up to No. 3 in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) list of all-time three-point shooters.
Lassiter said being mentioned in the same breath as Jimmy Alapag, Allan Caidic and LA Tenorio is truly an honor so he will keep on working hard to continue climbing the ladder.
The 37-year-old Lassiter knocked down a total of 1,219 treys during the Beermen’s 106-89 win over Rain or Shine at the Mall of Asia Arena over the weekend.
He surpassed Tenorio, who has 1,218 triples, while trailing leader Jimmy Alapag and Allan Caidic, who registered 1,250 and 1,242 howitzers in their stellar basketball careers.
“First of all, I couldn’t thank anyone but the Lord above for blessing me to just continue to play at a high level and just staying healthy for the most part. And to thank my teammates, because you know they’re the ones, majority I do a lot of spot up,” said Lassiter, who arrived in the country as a trigger-happy gunner for Gilas Pilipinas in 2009.
Since then, he played for Powerade in 2011 before joining the Beermen in 2012.
“But yeah, I mean just to be in the same breath as LA, he’s once again one of the true legends. The greatest point guard I’ve played in the PBA. You know, when I came in the league, I looked up to him.”
Still, Lassiter asserted that personal glory is the last thing on his mind.
“I try not to think about it, but it’s kind of hard when I keep looking up and like, ‘Oh, there goes my number’s game,’” Lassiter said.
“When that time comes, that will be a very special moment for me.”
Even Beermen head coach Jorge Gallent is happy to see Lassiter make the grade but insists that it remains business as usual for them.
“As a coach, I’m really happy for him that he achieved this. He won’t even achieve this without the help of his teammates, so everybody helped him,” Gallent said.
“In practice, we don’t talk about it. When it comes, it comes
— and it came now. Really happy for him. And I hope he moves forward to the top.”
