To the eyes of PBA legend Jojo Lastimosa, Marcio Lassiter is the best pure shooter since league Hall of Famer Alan Caidic.
But Lastimosa believes there are qualities Lassiter have that set him apart from the previous two all-time three-point shot leaders.
“He’s been healthy pretty much of his whole career,” Lastimosa wrote via Viber to Pinoystep.com. “What differentiates Marcio from Alan and Jimmy is that Marcio is a really solid defender.”
Lastimosa played with Caidic during the 1986 Asian Games that finished with a bronze medal in Seoul, Korea, but they’ve been rivals in the PBA for many years.
On Sunday, Lassiter reached a league milestone by becoming the all-time leading three-point shooter, surpassing Alapag, a former PBA MVP.
Lassiter achieved it just in the 7:08 mark of the first period of San Miguel’s 131-82 dumping of Barangay Ginebra.
The 6-foot-3 forward now has a total of 1,254 three-point shots made, eclipsing Alapag’s 1,250.
Also included in the list of top five all-time three-time point shot leaders are Caidic (1,242), LA Tenorio (1,225) and James Yap (1,178).
Feared as probably the deadliest shooter Philippine basketball has ever produced, Caidic, known as ‘The Trigger Man’ made his mark not just in the PBA, but also in the international basketball circuit while he was still playing for the Northern Consolidated Cement-backed national squad.
He retired as the longest record holder for most number of three-point shots made in 1999 and that feat was being held by Caidic until 2016 when Alapag surpassed him on October 9, 2016 during Game 2 of the best-of-seven finals series between Ginebra and Meralco.
“It’s great,” said Lassiter. “There’s a lot of pressure at first before the game and I’m glad it’s finally over. I would like to thank God for putting me in this position, teammates and coaches for putting me in this position and they gave their trust.”
“For the past month, you guys were putting the numbers out. Now I’ve gotten it over and with and can now focus on the team. It’s always about the team. I’m just happy I did it and in front of a great crowd.”
