GO OUT, BE PROFESSIONAL, COMPETE
Seeing his name crop up in trade rumors, many people expected Marcio Lassiter to be affected in his succeeding games for San Miguel.
But on the contrary, the gunslinger has come out firing, going 5-of-7 from three-point country to finish with 24 points in the Beermen’s 124-102 win over GlobalPort on Sunday.
“I have my own motivations. I want to step up. We had a really bad conference last time and it’s very important for me as one of the leaders to step up and try to make plays for our team and get wins,” Lassiter said.
It could also be a factor that Lassiter celebrated his 28th birthday on Saturday.
“If you say so. I’m just glad we got the win. I was hot tonight. Maybe it was a special night for me. I was just feeling it today. I kept shooting and I knew I was hot,” he said.
Lassiter admitted that the trade rumors have been going on for quite a time now. But being the professional that he is, he just takes everything in stride.
“We talked with the management. It’s something that has been going on for a while. I have no control over it. We all talked about it. All our players and coaches have trust in me. We know what to do and that’s to keep playing. I’m glad to be a part of our team right now,” Lassiter said. “I just go out everyday, be professional, compete. I just come in the same way: be professional and play San Miguel basketball. I’m here for the team. It wasn’t about proving anything wrong. You can’t worry about too many things. That’s all I can do.”
And for him, it’s nice to be assured by management that the rumors are nothing more than just rumors.
“It’s a good thing to hear. I’m just playing my game and doing what I can do with my capabilities. My teammates have full confidence in me. Today, I was just aggressive, I shot the ball and it went in,” said Lassiter.
With San Miguel now improving to 2-2, Lassiter hopes that this would be a start of a possible good run for the Beermen.
“We put in a lot of work so we knew we had to come in and prepare hard. I’m glad that most of my hard work has paid off, but it’s too early, and we have to continue to work hard.” (RL)
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