Marcio Lassiter regained his shooting touch -- that was sorely missing in the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers - on Friday to help San Miguel produce a momentum-building win before Sunday's marquee matchup against Barangay Ginebra.
Lassiter fired 28 points on 10-of-17 shooting, including six threes in a 143-119 rout of the Columbian Dyip at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The sweet-shooting Lassiter averaged just 4.5 points on a 13-percent clip in Team Pilipinas' matches against Iran and Qatar.
"I think it has to do with the style of play we have," Lassiter said. "I'm playing on a team (San Miguel) that I've been with for quite sometime. I got a pass-first point guard and he's always looking for our shooters. And the chemistry we have is something I'm more familiar with.
"Given that we didn't had that much time to prepare ourselves in FIBA, that was kind of hard. It's totally different compared to playing with San Miguel."
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Despite his offensive struggles, Lassiter looks at the positives in his return stint with the national team. He was part of the Gilas Pilipinas team that played in the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship.
"I'm still overall satisfied with my effort because I gave more than 101 percent and my defense was probably the best defense I've played. And I know I'm capable of playing defense like that," he said.
While he hopes to improve his play in the next FIBA window, Lassiter has kept his focus to help San Miguel improve on its standings in the PBA Governors' Cup.
Notwithstanding their victory on Friday, Lassiter and the Beermen know they have to improve on their performance against the Kings on Sunday -- their first meeting since the Commissioner's Cup Finals last August. (JT)
