CJ Perez is glad that he made the choice of giving the ball to Marcio Lassiter for the three-point shot that gave San Miguel Beer a thrilling 101-100 win over Alaska.
Perez had the chance to be the hero when he was spotted open from the left side of the arc, but opted to make an extra pass for Lassiter who knocked down the winning triple from the left corner that enabled SMB to eliminate Alaska from the quarterfinal race.
The Beermen guard said it was no-brainer that Lassiter was the best option during that situation.
“Alam ko lagi siyang nasa corner, at mas may tiwala ako sa shooting niya kesa sa shooting ko,” Perez said with a laugh.
“Kaya pinasa ko na lang sa kanya,” added Perez, whose percentage from rainbow country is nothing compared to Lassiter.
Lassiter, one of the premier shooters in the league, has made 44-percent of his three-pointers this conference while Perez made just 32 percent from that area.
San Miguel finished the elims at 7-4 to secure the No. 4 seed in a best-of-three quarterfinal series.
Even if he wasn’t the man who came through with the big shot, Perez has been slowly getting an increased role in his first conference in a Beermen uniform.
The former Terrafirma Dyip star averaged 21.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.7 steals in the final three games of the eliminations.
“I think minsan talaga nagtitiwala din talaga yung mga teammates ko, yung mga coaches sakin kaya yung kumpyansa ko talaga medyo tumataas,” he said. “And for sure sa playoffs sana maganda ulit yung ilalaro namin.”