SCOTTIE Thompson nearly cost the game for Gilas Pilipinas when he committed a five-second inbound violation in the final seconds against Jordan in their FIBA World Cup Asian qualifier on Friday night.
Kai Sotto’s block at the other end not only preserved the heroics of Kevin Quiambao and Cjay Perez in the endgame, but spared Thompson blushes as well.
READ Gilas rides clutch KQ three to pull off gritty OT win over Jordan
Thompson was one of the unsung heroes of the 82-81 overtime win over Jordan at the Mall of Asia Arena where he was a +13 - the point differential for Gilas in the 28 minutes he was on the court.
Thompson scored only a point, but had six rebounds and three assists. More importantly, the one-time PBA MVP was responsible for defending Jordan’s high-scoring naturalized player Jalen Harris at key points in the match.
Harris got his points with 19 but had to earn every single one, ending up just 6-of-22 from the field after hitting 4 treys in the first half. It was also one of his lowest productions in the qualifiers after averaging 27 points prior to the Gilas game.
Freddy Ibrahim was also shackled by Thompson at some point in the game after scoring most of his 22 points in a lights-out first half.
“I’ve got to say that Scottie, Cjay [Perez], and Dwight (Ramos) did a great job defending Jalen Harris and (Freddy) Ibrahim. Ibrahim was lights out in the first half but we got him under control in the second,” Cone said. during the postgame press conference.
"Their defense really turned the tide and kept those two guys under control," Cone added.
Cone considers himself lucky to have the Barangay Ginebra guard healthy again in time for the qualifiers after being sidelined by a hamstring injury.
“He came off a really bad hamstring injury. Really bad. It was kind of, you could see the bruising on the outside of his leg so it took him awhile to recover,” said the concurrent Ginebra coach.
Cone is aware that Thompson is at times maligned by fans on social media with his spotty shooting and sometimes erratic play with Gilas, but he insisted that the players' overall value far outweighs the negatives.
“People kind of give Scottie a hard time because he’s not a great shooter. He’s not a true point guard. He’ll make a turnover here and there. But they dismiss all the other stuff that he does,” Cone said.
“We know in the PBA, we call him Scottie things. He does all the Scottie things. He gets the rebounds. He gets the loose balls. He defends. He knows how to get teams into execution. And he will make big shots or get to the rim when he needs to, but he really relies on his teammates a lot to make shots,” Cone said.
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