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POSTGAME INTERVIEW - Kai Sotto|B1 ROUND24|03.15.2023

B1 ROUND 24 : March 15, 2023

HIROSHIMA DRAGONFLIES 102 - 95 KYOTO HANNARYZ 

📊BOXSCORE

KAI SOTTO | HIROSHIMA DRAGONFLIES
22:45 MINS | 20 PTS | 8 REBS | 1 STL
  • Thoughts on tonight's game?

(Kai Sotto: KS) I felt good. First home game. Right now, I'm just happy we got the win. It was a good team win. I mean, 31 assists that's a good reflection of how well we shared the ball. So good win. Really good crowd. And I'm just happy to get my first home game. First home game win.

  • Can you describe your contributions to tonight's win?

(KS) I think with my size and length, I would always want to make my presence felt inside. Offensively and defensively. Offensively tonight, we have so much weapons on the offense. We got Dwayne, Nick, Kerry, who can all score from three levels. So a lot of attention is to them. So I just find my way to help them, free them up if they're not free, and then I'm open. So it's just one of those games where they focus on the other guys and I'm just lucky to be there on the opportunities that I got. We just shared the ball really well. It was a good team win.

  • Did you notice some Filipino fans in the arena?

(KS) Yeah, I saw some Filipino fans. It's easy to spot them because I can always hear when they shout. So it was good to see my fellow Filipinos coming out and watching the game and supporting us. So it was a good feeling to see them here.

  • Would you say you've reached "Kaiju" level?

(KS) I think I played well. Maybe not Kaiju level yet, but I'll slowly get there. I said it was a good team win. Everybody contributed, and I'm just happy we got this win for the fans and for the home crowd.

  • What can you say about your teammate Ryo Terashima?

(KS) Yeah, Ryo is a good friend of mine. He's a really good teammate. He's a really good point guard. And he's one of those teammates that you look forward to playing with on the court, because he can see everything. He's got good vision, and we got that little chemistry going on, so it's only going to get better. So you see more passes from him to me, and then yeah we got that good chemistry going on.

Me and Ryo will get better every day. And not just us, but the whole team. Just the chemistry is getting better. We just play better every day, and we keep practicing. We have more games, we have more opportunities to show that we're a better team. Every night we step on that court. So it's only just going to get better for this team, and I'm excited for our next games.

  • To what would you attribute your 20-point performance tonight?

(KS) I think almost all my points came from my teammates, so I give a lot of praise to my teammates. I mean as I said, we got 31 assists. It's just a good team win, with team this good and team with a chemistry like this, offensively you don't really have to worry that much because the ball will come to you when you're open. So I think offensively, we just really helped each other and I was the lucky one tonight, I got the most points because of my teammates.

  • What are some things you feel you need to improve on?

(KS) I just have to keep on going. I mean I'm not a complete player yet, so everything have to make all shots that I take. So I got a little sky hook that I missed, little hook shot that I have to feel like it has to be automatic, but I'll keep working on that every day. And our next game is only going to get better for us. We'll still keep on improving as a team and looking forward to playing our next games.

  • What was your first impression of the B.LEAGUE?

(KS)  I think my first impression of the B.LEAGUE, it starts with my team. I think it's just really good chemistry, not much ego. So for me, a new player coming in, it was an easy first couple of days because all my teammates were really good guys and when we step on the court. It was just good basketball. You just got that good healthy relationship with your teammates and it's easy to play basketball when your teammates are like that. So I'm happy I went to the right team. I went to a really good team and really good coaches, and I just really like the culture of our fans and the Japanese people, and they're just really nice here. And you can see it on the basketball court, the way they do things for each other, sharing the ball, defensively helping each other. It's just good culture. So I'm happy to be in this team and to play well.

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