Ok, we have to remember that this is TEAM go so:
White player appears to be too dangerous a playerr for just throwing stones quickly on the board.
Is probably not a comment in the spirit of team go. In this case the sequence was played by at least two different players
A far p18, I suppose you could say that it's a big gote, but it's a REALLY big gote, like 20+ points!
Earlier. white could probably make a small life with the 3 captured stones by playing h18, but this group would be small and the black stones surrounding them would be HUGE compared to the few points white would get. It's very important for white to out in the center with the o16 and n13 stones, and for those stones to have a "base" as they do now. In my opinion, there is a really key point on the board now so that white can reduce the importance of the thick black group in the upper center. (I won't give away my idea for this key point).