Cone admits Gilas still navigating Kai Sotto absence after back-to-back losses in FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers

Kai Sotto's absence has left a huge hole for Gilas Pilipinas as the nationals lost four of their last five international games since the 2nd Doha International Cup, followed by the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers. 

Gilas head coach Tim Cone acknowledged this predicament, especially after the 7-foot-3 big man posted averages of 15.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 3.8 assists in four games in the Asia Cup qualifiers before he was ruled out due to an ACL injury while playing in Japan B. League. 

"We lost a key player for a year in Kai Sotto so we’re still trying to adjust to playing without him and that’s the thing we’re gonna talk about as we go into the FIBA Asia Cup," Cone said after they bowed to New Zealand on Sunday to wrap up the qualifiers. 

Gilas has been feeling Sotto's absence since then.

The Filipinos ended the Doha International Cup with a 1-2 card, eking out a comeback win against host Qatar before falling to Lebanon and Egypt after suffering offensive woes. 

"These windows are short, we’re together so little. We were able to do a Doha trip before we came here just to try to get more time together. It probably hurt us more than it helped us in terms of being ready for Taiwan and New Zealand," Cone said.

They then headed to Taiwan and New Zealand for the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.

Their struggles continued and fell prey to Chinese Taipei, 91-84, to absorb their first loss in the tournament and first defeat against Chinese Taipei since 2013. 

Against the Tall Blacks, though, the Filipinos fell flat.

They allowed New Zealand to unleash an early 30-15 cushion in the first quarter and take a lead as big as 28 when Reuben Te Rangi buried a triple early in the third. 

Gilas would crawl back but the visitors' comeback fell short amid an unforgiving offense from the hometown bets that saw the Tall Blacks shoot 13 three-pointers en route to an 87-70 victory. 

Back in the second window last November, New Zealand hit more triples in their 93-89 loss to the Philippines with an impressive 18-of-35 triples. The difference in that game, however, was Sotto who posted 19 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, two blocks, and a steal to lift Gilas to its first-ever FIBA win against New Zealand. 

Despite this, Cone said they have to move on, stressing they are now looking at the bigger picture as they turn their focus on the Asia Cup proper in August in Saudi Arabia. 

"But we’re trying to look at the big picture in terms of the FIBA Asia Cup coming up because we know we’re not gonna have much time. We may have eight to ten days to prepare for that tournament," the champion coach added.

"So everything we do is cumulative experiences so we’re trying to take each window as an experiment and move on to the next one and the next one and hopefully grow it and improve."

—JKC, GMA Integrated News