Tough to win without your 7’3 starting center

Tim Cone regrets having Kai Sotto on sick bay for the big clash against Brazil
PHOTO: FIBA

GILAS Pilipinas coach Tim Cone admitted the absence of Kai Sotto hurt their chances of overcoming a highly-physical Brazil side in the semifinals of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

Sotto was in uniform entering their match against Brazil, but didn’t see action for a single second. He sat on the bench and watched as Gilas Pilipinas was outscored, 24-6, in the third quarter and lost, 71-60, ending its campaign in the FIBA OQT.

Cone said the absence of Sotto due to an injury in his rib that he sustained in the previous game against Georgia forced Gilas’ other bigs led by June Mar Fajardo to work double time.

“We don’t want to make excuses, but losing Kai was big for us because it just took away our depth in the frontline and forced June Mar to have to overplay minutes. It’s kinda all mushroomed it right there,” Cone said.

“But bottom line is we weren’t good enough. We’ve got to be better. We are trying to tell ourselves that almost isn’t good enough, almost winning, almost getting there, almost that. It’s not good enough. We’ve got to find a way to get over the hump.”

Thin Frontline Proved To Be Gilas’ Undoing

Cone said Fajardo was fatigued as he had to contain Brazil’s big guys in Bruno Caboclo and Cristiano Felicio. Cabolco was huge for Brazil, finishing with a team-high 15 points, while taking turns with Felicio in defending Fajardo.

The seven-time PBA MVP wounded up with 10 points and 11 rebounds, but shot 4-of-10 from the field.

“We were just lacking a big. We had to overplay our frontline. More than anything, June Mar got really tired having to battle No. 51 and No. 6,” Cone stated.

“Those were two guys who were ganging up on him and rotating on him. It was a tough battle for him being there by himself.”