By: Jay Yeomans

Published: March 8, 2019

It was a rough night for the Shanghai Sharks on Thursday as they let a great shot of jumping back into the playoff picture slip through their fingers.

Despite having six players score in double figures, the Sharks dropped a 98-89 decision to the Shenzhen Leopards. As always, Jimmer Fredette was the catalyst for the Sharks, finishing with a game-high 24 points on 8-for-23 shooting from the floor and 5-for-6 from the foul line. He added seven rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals in 44 minutes. Luis Scola chipped in with 13 points, five rebounds, and two assists while Zhang Zhaoxu added a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds to go along with three blocks.

Yu Dehao led the way for the Leopards with 20 points and seven rebounds while Li Muhao managed 16 points and 13 rebounds. Kenny Boynton chipped in with 16 points, six assists, and five rebounds.

The main struggle for the Sharks in the game was on the backboards where they got outrebounded 49-35, including 17-10 on the offensive end of the floor.

With the loss, the Sharks dropped to 21-23 on the season and still sit a game out of the final playoff spot with just two games to go.

On the season, Fredette is second in the CBA in scoring, averaging 37 points a night on 53 percent shooting from inside the arc, 41 percent from beyond the 3-point line and 92 percent from the foul line. He also chips in with 5.7 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 2.7 steals in 40.4 minutes.

Inside the numbers

• the 24-point performance was the 39th time in 41 games that Fredette scored more than 20 points this season. He also has 34 30-point games, 15 40-point games, and four 50-point games.
• With three more 3-point shots, Fredette now has 36 games with three or more threes this season. He now has 201 made threes in 2018-19.
• After collecting two more steals, Fredette now has 110 on the year. He 2.7 steals per game is the most of anyone on the league who has played more than 16 games.

Up next

Fredette and the Sharks will be back on the floor on Sunday when they face off with the Nanjing Tongxi Monkey Kings who have dropped five of their last six games (their only win in that span came against Shanghai) and are 11-33 on the season.

The player to watch for the Monkey Kings is former Indiana Pacer guard, Joe Young, who is putting up some huge numbers in his first season in the CBA. He is currently tied for third in the league in scoring, averaging 36.1 points per game while handing out 5.2 assists and collecting 5.1 rebounds.