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Tim Cone says Gilas Pilipinas badly missed Kai Sotto as his absence crippled the Philippines’ frontline in its semifinal loss to Brazil within the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Match
MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas bid its Paris Olympic desires goodbye with Kai Sotto helplessly watching from the sidelines.
Head coach Tim Cone stated the group badly missed the 7-foot-3 large man as his absence crippled the Philippines’ frontline in its 71-60 semifinal loss to Brazil within the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Match on Saturday, July 6.
A game-time choice after sustaining a rib harm that saved him out for your entire second half of their 96-94 defeat to Georgia within the group stage, Sotto ended up not enjoying.
“We don’t need to make excuses, however dropping Kai was large for us as a result of it simply took away our depth within the frontline and compelled June Mar Fajardo to must overplay minutes, and that form of all mushroomed it proper there,” stated Cone.
“However the bottomline is we simply weren’t adequate tonight. We bought to be higher. We’re attempting to inform ourselves that nearly isn’t adequate. Nearly successful, nearly getting there may be not adequate.”
“We bought to discover a option to recover from the hump and get there, and tonight, we didn’t try this,” Cone added.
The Philippines initially barely felt the impact of enjoying with out Sotto because it constructed a lead as large as 12 factors and entered the halftime break forward, 33-27.
However Brazil – that includes two 6-foot-9 former NBA gamers in Bruno Caboclo and Cristiano Felicio – clogged the lanes and turned the tables within the second half.
Retaining the Philippines scoreless within the first six minutes of the third quarter, the Brazilians rode on a blistering 14-0 begin and outscored the Filipinos, 24-6, within the interval to mount a commanding 51-39 benefit.
Cone stated the physicality of Caboclo and Felicio, plus the heavier workload, took their toll on Fajardo.
Fajardo nonetheless completed with a double-double of 10 factors and 11 rebounds in over half-hour of motion, though he shot simply 4-of-10 from the sphere.
On the opposite aspect, Caboclo imposed his will inside and posted 15 factors, 11 rebounds, and three blocks.
“Began off sturdy, however we simply couldn’t maintain it towards their physicality. We’re simply missing an enormous, we needed to overplay our frontline,” stated Cone.
“I feel, greater than something, June Mar bought actually drained having to battle [Caboclo and Felicio]. These had been two guys ganging up on him and rotating on him. It was a troublesome battle for him being there by himself.”
Additionally lacking AJ Edu and Jamie Malonzo attributable to accidents, Gilas Pilipinas hopes to get wholesome within the coming months earlier than it returns to motion within the second window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers in November. – Rappler.com
