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| Sidekick? What sidekick? Super Marcio saves the day |
With the Bataan Bomber still riding a hot shooting streak and finishing with 32 (four games over 30 now), all the Tigers really needed was another player to help stretch the Rain or Shine defense and blow the series wide open. In Game 1, Lassiter was nowhere to be found and had trouble getting into any rhythm on the floor. Ditto with Jayvee Casio, who, if the PBA held a do-over of the 2011 draft, would probably be picked overall instead of 1st.
Today, Lassiter was bent on redemption and attacked the basket early while also putting his shooting arsenal on full display. From hard drives to jumpers, there was simply no stopping the Lassiter Show and once the Bataan Bomber got his groove in the 2nd half, the game was all but over.
Credit should also go to the Tigers' defense which brought the Yellow Caidic that is RoS' Jeffrei Chan (is that too racist a monicker? Ok, how about "The Sniper" since "Triggerman" and "Assassin" have already been used?) back to earth to the point that the FEU alum laid am ugly, big, fat egg.
Personally, this writer feels that the Tigers enjoyed a great shooting night rather than making one too many adjustments on the floor. More and more, they are starting to look like a team that has a penchant for launching and relying on one too many three pointers- in a series such as this one, wherein games are played consecutively, don't bet on the Tigers to sustain those hot hands of theirs (law of averages).
If anything, Tigers' head coach Bo Perasol should be wary of just how easily RoS' Larry Rodriguez is hauling down double-doubles in two games and scoring in the 20s. This, from a guy who spent most of the eliminations playing behind Ronnie Matias.
Also, Gabe Norwood is just too good a player not to make an impact in the next game. As for the Tigers' this is them at their best- with David and Lassiter playing the Pinoy version of MJ and Pip and drawing support from the rest of the crew.
