Injured sniper Lassiter ‘helpless’ as Gilas fires blanks vs Italy

Marcio Lassiter watches Gilas Pilipinas’ tuneup game against the Adelaide 36ers. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

FOSHAN, China—Gilas Pilipinas never got into a shooting flow against Italy last Saturday night, resulting in one of the biggest blowouts thus far in the Fiba World Cup here.

Failing to hit a single three-pointer in the first half and finishing with just three for the game—coming during garbage time—the Filipinos went down hard, 108-62, and are faced with a must-win game against world No. 4 Serbia Monday night to have any chance of advancing past group play.

The team was forced to leave its best shooter behind, not that coach Yeng Guiao wanted it. But an injury to Marcio Lassiter less than a month coming here forced the hand of the coaching staff to look for that sniper elsewhere.

Lassiter owned one of the somber faces at Foshan International Sports and Cultural Arena after that 46-point blowout, knowing that he couldn’t do anything to remedy the situation for his brothers-in-arms.

“It hurts just from the aspect of not being there to help your brothers out, to fight with them,” Lassiter said during breakfast at his hotel. “They’re going to war putting their bodies on the line. For me, that’s the things I want to do for the team and the country. You just feel helpless.”

The 6-foot-4 gunslinger, who has been out because of a knee injury since the PBA Commissioner’s Cup Finals, is here as a cheerleader, having practiced with Gilas since the start as he was prepared by Guiao to be the team’s top outside gun.

“All you can do is cheer them on and give the encouragement. That’s all I could do while I was watching them,” he said.

Lassiter was also baffled by the way the team shot against the Italians: 3-for-23 in that game.

“They never got into a flow,” he said. “Whatever that transpired in the game didn’t look fluid for them. It wasn’t flowing like we expected. I don’t know if it was their (Italian’s defense) or that we were scouted well. I’m sure if we were able to move it around a little more, we got better looks.”

The pure shooter in him believes that the outing against the powerhouse Serbs will be better Monday night.

“I’ve seen that first hand,” he said of Gilas making a bunch of triples.

“I’m sure that if one goes in, then two of three (triples), the whole confidence of the team gathers by then,” he said. “Confidence-wise, they have so much confidence. it’s the reason why they’re on the team. I feel that was a bad night for them.”