Lassiter nears new triple record

Three more triples and San Miguel Beer wingman Marcio Lassiter will move up as the Philippine Basketball Association’s (PBA) all-time leader in three-point shots made.

Lassiter converted five treys in the Beermen’s 139-127 victory over Phoenix in Group B of the Governors’ Cup last Friday as he inched closer to overtaking PBA legend Jimmy Alapag at the top spot of the league’s elite club of long-range bombers.

He has already has 1,248 made triples in his 13-year career.

This puts him two shy of tying Alapag’s 1,250 successful treys. Three will make Lassiter the all-time leader.

Lassiter gets a crack at cementing his legacy when the Beermen take on Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in a marquee rematch today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“We will just see how it goes Sunday. But I’ll try to be aggressive and try to get going and hope that I can get two to tie and three to break it,” Lassiter said as he looked to get the job done against the Gin Kings.

Lassiter was eager to reach the record in the blowout game against the winless Fuel Masters. He went 5-of-12 from the three-point area and finished with 16 points.

His last basket from rainbow territory came in the 41 seconds of the game with San Miguel leading by a mile, 139-125.

Lassiter, in fact, had an opportunity to make another triple when he got the ball in the dying seconds of the game but decided not to shoot with respect to the game’s unwritten rule of hitting a basket with the game already decided.

He’d rather try reaching his personal goal while trying to avenge a first round loss to Ginebra, 108-102, where he went scoreless in his season debut after missing the Beermen’s first two games due to food poisoning.