San Miguel Beerman Lassiter dislodges Alapag as three-point king

Games on Tuesday
(Ninoy Aquino Stadium)
5 p.m. – Rain or Shine vs NLEX
7:30 p.m. – Magnolia vs TNT

THERE’S a new Alpha sniper in the town and at the rate he’s going, San Miguel Beer’s Marcio Lassiter’s hold of this slice of PBA “his-three” may be untouchable for years.

And it’s the man he dislodged as the Three-Point King, Jimmy Alapag, himself, who had encouraged Mr. Lassiter to continue shooting the lights out.

Mr. Alapag, who is now based in the US serving the Sacramento Kings as player development coach, messaged Mr. Lassiter as the latter was gearing to break his all-time  record of 1,250 triples made.

“He texted me. We just talked a little bit. He showed his gratitude, said he was proud of my accomplishment, that I would be the one to break his record,” Mr. Lassiter shared after celebrating his rise to No. 1 in SMB’s 131-82 ripping of Barangay Ginebra in Sunday’s Governors’ Cup duel at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“He wished he could be here but he said he’ll be full on just being there while supporting me. He gave his wishes and said hi to the family and to keep on pushing the needle.

“I will try to keep pushing like he said,” added the Fil-Am pistolero who achieved the milestone on his 538^th game in the league, faster than Mr. Alapag (601 matches) and everybody else.

Mr. Alapag and another legendary shooter, Allan Caidic (1,242) fell to 2-3 in the wake of Mr. Lassiter’s surge. Ginebra’s LA Tenorio (1,219) and Blackwater’s James Yap (1,178) are the closest threats to Mr. Lassiter’s record in the roster of greats at Nos. 4 and 5. Magnolia’s Paul Lee, the other active player in list at No. 10, has 976 so far — more than 300 triples off the new king.

Mr. Lassiter, meanwhile, thanked the Lord and gave props to coach Jorge Gallent and his teammates led by June Mar Fajardo and Chris Ross, who either issued an assist or provided a screen that helped him knock down four quickfire treys in the first quarter alone that sealed his date with destiny.

“Coach George is a tremendous coach, giving me the confidence every night to come out and showcase my talents and he’s drawing great plays for me. Also, I definitely couldn’t do this without my teammates from the past and right now. They’ve been helping me out for so long. I feel like the main two that probably gave me the most assists are June Mar (Fajardo) and Chris (Lassiter). So I have to also thank those guys.”

“That’s just ‘Cio (Lassiter). He’s going to give people credit but it’s all on him,” countered Ross. “The easy part is passing the ball, the hard part is putting it to the basket as much as he does.”

Meanwhile, Rain or Shine (5-2) takes another crack at a quarterfinal ticket today against an NLEX squad (3-4) seeking to revive its playoffs hopes in a crucial Group B tiff at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

The Elasto Painters were derailed by a 102-124 blowout loss to Ginebra last Friday. The Road Warriors are determined to get out of a three-game slump with a new import in DeQuan Jones and trade acquisition Javee Mocon in tow.

Magnolia (4-3) looks to solidify its position in the quarters chase in the other game versus Group A leader and early quarterfinalist TNT (6-1). — Olmin Leyba