Manila Bulletin

Lassiter nears Alapag's 3-point record

- By REYNALD MAGALLON

Marcio Lassiter may still be without a three-point shooting crown but the SMB sniper is closing in to a much-prestigiou­s throne as he continues to move up in the all-time three-point list.

The 36-year-old gunner has been climbing up fast in the leaderboar­d this season, barging into the Top 5 in Game 2 of the PBA Commission­er’s Cup Finals last February before moving further up to the No.4 spot in the ongoing Philippine Cup eliminatio­ns just a week ago.

As of April 28, Lassiter is at 1,205 three-point shot makes, closing the gap between him and current No. 3 LA Tenorio who has 1,218 triples and counting – a number that the SMB shooter could very well surpass given how well he’s been shooting the past few games.

According to PBA chief statistici­an Fidel Mangonon III, Lassiter is currently leading the league in three-point percentage and threepoint makes per game. He is making 3.2 triples per game at an impressive clip of 56.9 percent.

With such a prolific shooting performanc­e, a pressing question begins to surface: Is Lassiter poised to surpass Jimmy Alapag and claim the title of all-time three-point king before the season ends?

Let’s dig a little deeper.

As it stands, Alapag sits at the top of the food chain with a total of 1,250 triples followed by Allan Caidic with 1,242. And then there’s Tenorio and Lassiter composing the Top 4.

That means the SMB gunner is 14 triples away to surpass Tenorio, 38 to overtake Caidic and 46 to unseat Alapag.

According to Mangonon, given Lassiter’s three-point makes per game, he will need five games to leapfrog Tenorio in the list, 11 to beat Caidic and 15 more to take the crown from Alapag.

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