PBA: Marcio Lassiter fired up by Gallent’s halftime pep talk

San Miguel Beermen’s Marcio Lassiter in a PBA Philippine Cup game against Converge. –PBA IMAGES

MANILA, Philippines—Marcio Lassiter had to snap out of a slump in San Miguel’s game against Converge in the PBA Philippine Cup. Thankfully, coach Jorge Gallent knew how to get him there.

After being scoreless in the first two periods, Gallent fired Lassiter up at the half, fueling the spitfire guard to finish 19 points—all in the second half at Philsports Arena on Friday.

“I told him to shoot the ball!” interjected Gallent when Lassiter was being asked about his second half explosion after their 112-103 win over the FiberXers.

READ: PBA: San Miguel stays unbeaten at 6-0 after beating Converge

“He is waiting his hand if doesn’t shoot the ball. He did it and fortunately he played well in the second half,” the top tactician added.

Lassiter looked like a completely different player after intermission. Not only did he score 19 built on five buckets from beyond the arc, but he was also active on the other facets of the game with five rebounds and three assists.

When the question got back to Lassiter, the 36-year-old gunner said Gallent’s tough love at halfitme was exactly what he needed to hear after an abysmal start to the game.

READ: PBA: Titles, not individual awards, matter more to Marcio Lassiter

“Yup, simple as that. I was a bit upset and hesitant in the first half, coach had to give me a talk and he said, ‘hey, you have to take these shots because it’s not going to help our team if you don’t stretch the floor.’ That’s why I was always confident in my shot. I’ll just have to get it going, wake up and that’s what we did,” said Lassiter.

With Lassiter’s timely outburst, San Miguel kept its record unblemished at 6-0 while keeping the chokehold on the first seed of the all-Filipino conference.

Lassiter, though, knows it’s nothing to be complacent about as the playoff race tightens and teams are more eager to break the longest winning streak in the conference, thus far.

“Every team is going to give us their best shot and we know it’s not about the streak it’s about playing our brand, playing SMB basketball. We did do that tonight but we have to work on playing [it for] the whole 48 minutes.”