ANTIPOLO CITY — San Miguel Beer’s Marcio Lassiter joined an elite company Friday, June 10 after becoming the ninth player in PBA history to make 1,000 career three-pointers.
Lassiter did the trick with 3:56 left in the second quarter of the Beermen’s 100-92 victory over the NLEX Road Warriors at the Ynares Center here, perhaps cementing his status as one of the league’s best rainbow makers.
The 11-year veteran enters the exclusive list that includes Jimmy Alapag, Allan Caidic, James Yap, Ronnie Magsanoc, Dondon Hontiveros, LA Tenorio, Arwind Santos and Al Solis.
“You're speaking of Hall of Fame players. Legends. The best to do it. And that's something that you can't really take away. It's in the history books,” Lassiter said. “Just grateful and thankful. It just speaks to the craft and me putting in the hard work all these years, continuing to believe in myself and my teammates.
“They're the ones who have been passing me the ball all these years, you know, from Powerade, Petron, even here. Just gotta thank everyone, and just keep believing in my abilities,” added Lassiter.
The former member of the original Gilas squad was drafted by Powerade in 2011 and played more than one conference before being deal to Petron, the brand SMB used to carry at the time.
After enduring frustrations during the “Petronovela” era, Lassiter would then play an important part in SMB’s run of eight championships between 2015 to 2019 highlighted by five straight Philippine Cup triumphs.
Lassiter finished with 18 points as SMB improved to 2-0 in the season-opening conference, a good start for a team that has been longing to get back to the top after going empty-handed in the past two years.