Lassiter after SMB loss to NLEX: ‘We’re still finding our way’

Marcio Lassiter. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/ INQUIRER.net

Marcio Lassiter will be the first to admit that right now, San Miguel is not the same team that won the first two championships this season.

“It’s just different for us right now. We’re not used to playing this type of lineup all the time,” he said.

SMB coach Leo Austria continued to thread the needle with prized big man June Mar Fajardo as the veteran mentor keeping the three-time PBA Most Valuable Player on minutes restriction to give him time to recover from his calf injury while also keeping him fresh for the bigger wars ahead.

But with Fajardo out, San Miguel suffered another close shave, this time losing to surprise contender NLEX, 103-100, on Sunday.

Lassiter, though, remains upbeat knowing that the Beermen have enough talent to win.

“We got enough talent to beat teams, and every one from the bench can compete with anybody. We know we can compete at a high level so we just got to continue playing San Miguel ball and make sure that whoever’s out there, we’ll come out and play hard,” he said.

“Once we get fully healthy, we’ll be a different team and right now, we’re still finding our way, but I’m proud of the team that we gave our full effort. We just need to focus on certain areas that we want and don’t fall on the same stuff in the next one.”

But for the Fil-Am sniper, he doesn’t want San Miguel to fall on the trap of playing the waiting game, saying that his team must find a way to rectify its miscues this early than feel sorry in the future.

“We just got to get better at the things that we make mistakes on and learn from them,” he said, highlighting the poor start that saw the Beermen trail by 15 early, 25-10.

“Of course, you want to play the full 48 minutes and that’s the key. If we could play the full 48 minutes, we could set the tone and play our style of brand. We can’t play two quarters, two-and-a-half, three-and-a-half, we got to play four quarters. That’s the key of beating any team. We can’t to come out and be down. We got to play the full four quarters.”

And it starts in practice as San Miguel eyes to bounce back against Alaska on Saturday in Angeles City in Pampanga.

“I can’t think about the last five games we played. I’m thinking about the sixth game that’s coming up. That’s all I can think about. One game at a time. This loss hurts, but it is what it is and we got to bounce back,” he said.