With their backs against the wall, Lassiter takes charge for Beermen
Marcio Lassiter is just ecstatic to advance once again to the semifinals as San Miguel downed Meralco on Monday.
Still feeling the sting of their early exit in the Commissioner’s Cup, the Beermen didn’t want to bow out early once again. They also did not want to relive the nightmares of the 2013 Commissioner’s Cup, where Air21 shocked the twice-to-beat Petron in the quarterfinals to eliminate the more-favored Blaze Boosters.
That was why on Monday, Lassiter went off with 17 points, 12 coming in the fourth, on a 3-of-7 shooting from treys to finally send the Bolts packing, 102-86.
“Meralco’s a tough team. They played really extremely well. They play as a team and they play so hard and I think that’s the reason why it went to a do-or-die game,” said the gunner.
“Today, we just buckled down on defense. We held their defense down, and we located all the shooters.”
As the Beermen advance to the Final Four, they will now brace for a tough Rain or Shine squad.
The last time these two teams met in the semis, the Elasto Painters clobbered the Beermen in five games before finishing a runner-up to San Mig Coffee in the 2014 Philippine Cup.
Lassiter, though, is hoping for a different result this time out.
“We have a different import this conference,” he said, knowing that with Arizona Reid, San Miguel is 2-0 this season against Rain or Shine.
“We just got to play to our strengths. We know what to do offensively. Defensively, I know coach is going to have a gameplan for us,” Lassiter continued. “We’re just taking it one game at a time. Defense wins championships so we need to buckle down more on defense.” (RL)
Subscribe to INQUIRER PLUS to get access to The Philippine Daily Inquirer & other 70+ titles, share up to 5 gadgets, listen to the news, download as early as 4am & share articles on social media. Call 896 6000.
