Gilas Pilipinas center Kai Sotto during a game against Jordan in the fifth window of the Fiba World Cup Asian qualifiers. Photo by Fiba
MANILA, Philippines — Kai Sotto took his coach Chot Reyes’ decision to sub him out in the first half in stride as he redeemed himself from a sluggish start with a strong third-quarter showing to lead Gilas Pilipinas past Jordan in the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers on Friday at Prince Hamza Hall in Amman.
Despite being taken out in the first half, the 7-foot-3 center showed maturity over his coach’s decision and finished with a game-high 16 points to go with seven rebounds, two assists, and two blocks to lead the second-half surge of the national team.
Reyes, who subbed Sotto out after being outplayed by Ahmad Al Dwairi, asked Tim Cone to explain his decision to the young big man.
“I think that’s the value of having good assistants when we took Kai off the game. I specifically told coach Tim to talk to him to be able to tell exactly why he was being taken out and what we’re looking from him. When we reinserted him and then he had that turnover we took him out again just to be able to deliver that point,” said Reyes after the Philippines’ 74-66 win.
Kai Sotto got the job done in a big road W for the Philippines over Jordan! 🙌
📊 16 pts (5/8 FGs) | 7 rebs | 2 asts | 2 blks | 21 EFF#FIBAWC x #WinForPilipinas 🇵🇭 pic.twitter.com/z5R2MJh3nH
— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 🏆 (@FIBAWC) November 10, 2022
Reyes, who is also the men’s national team basketball program head was impressed with how the 20-year-old bounced back from a lethargic start, which didn’t stop him from leading Gilas to a big road win.
“And that was a crucial moment because Kai could have just gone into a funk and just lost interest in the second half,” Reyes said. “But to his credit, he came out and we shifted the matchups a little bit and Kai dominated. He got four or five defensive rebounds and then he scored, and (imposed his) presence on defense. That’s what we need from him. I had a talk with him after the game and that’s exactly what we discussed.”
Sotto, who also hit a pair of threes, deflected the credit to his teammates for playing selfless basketball that helped Gilas improve to 4-3 in Pool E.
“We just had fun. It was just selfless basketball. No one really cared who scored. Everybody was happy… That turned out to be a good game. I’m happy we got the win,” Sotto said.
The Adelaide 36er tries to complete a fifth window sweep for the Philippines when they take on Saudi Arabia in another road game on Monday.