Marcio Lassiter felt it was imperative to shake off getting elbowed in the nose and help defending champion San Miguel Beer end a winless start in the PBA Philippine Cup.
Lassiter scored all of his 18 points in the second half to emerge as one of the main reasons why the Beermen defeated the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 111-93, on Sunday at Ynares Center in Rodriguez, Rizal.
That despite Lassiter having to be taken to the locker room with 6:59 left in the second quarter when he got hit inadvertently by a driving Santi Santillan in what he described as something that happened ‘in the blink of an eye.’
‘I’m just glad that I was able to come back because I’m not sure if I have to be rushed to the hospital or what not,’ said Lassiter.
‘But I just want to help the coaches, help my teammates out in getting this win because we’re desperate because we’re at 0-2, and we can’t afford to go down 0-3,’ added Lassiter, who plans to have his nose checked out.
The 38-year-old went 7-of-14 from the field, with three coming from the three-point arc along with six rebounds in 21 minutes for the Beermen.
He was averaging 8.5 points on 50-percent shooting with 3.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 2.0 steals in the first two games when San Miguel lost to NLEX and Phoenix.
‘Everyone plays through injuries, and mine probably looked worse and I hope it’s nothing,’ Lassiter said. ‘But you do have to sacrifice and those sacrifices, hopefully, motivate everyone to come out and play harder. And we know that there’s a sense of urgency coming out tonight.’