By: Jay Yeomans

Published: March 13, 2019

Jimmermania is headed to the CBA playoffs for the third year in a row!

Jimmer Fredette delivered a masterful shooting performance to lead the Shanghai Sharks to a 124-89 win over the Fujian Sturgeons on Wednesday on the final day of the regular season to propel the Sharks into the playoffs.

Fredette finished with a team-high 32 points on 12-for-20 shooting from the field, including a remarkable 7-for-11 from 3-point land while converting on his only free throw. He added six rebounds and four assists while playing 34 minutes over the first three quarters before sitting out the fourth in the blowout win.

The BYU legend caught fire early, finishing with 20 first-quarter points, including four triples, as the Sharks raced out to a 31-9 lead after one.

The Sharks pushed the lead to 30 by the break and skated home with the comfortable win to earn a first-round rematch with the Beijing Ducks.

Shanghai also got some fantastic production off the bench in the win, paced by Luis Scola who registered 21 points, 11 rebounds, and four helpers while Wang Tong added 21 points on the strength of a 9-for-10 shooting night from the floor to go along with eight rebounds.

Wang Zhelin led the way for the Sturgeons in the loss, finishing with 38 points and 16 rebounds, but got just seven points and 10 boards from the team’s leading scorer, Andrew Nicholson.

On the season, Fredette averaged a league-leading 36.9 points a night on 53 percent shooting from inside the arc, 42.4 percent from 3-point range and 91.7 percent from the foul line. He also contributed 5.7 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 2.6 steals a night in 40.2 minutes.

Inside the numbers

• With seven more 3-point shots, Fredette set the single-season CBA record for threes made with 219.
• Fredette’s four assists pushed his season total to 233, setting a new Sharks season record for helpers.
• Despite not collecting a steal in his final game of the season, Fredette also set Shanghai’s single-season record for steals with 112.
• Fredette finished the year with 36 30-point games, including nine in his last 10 games. He also registered 15 40-point games, four 50-point games, and a 75-point masterpiece.

Up next

The Sharks will be on the road on Saturday as they open up the playoffs against the No. 5 seed Beijing Ducks who finished the year with a 31-15 record.

The Ducks are led by former Lone Peak High School star, Justin Hamilton, and fellow import, Aaron Jackson. Hamilton had a strong showing in his second year with the Ducks, averaging 23.3 points a night to go along with 9.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.2 blocks and 1.6 steals in 36.7 minutes a game.

As for Jackson, he was much more aggressive on the offensive end in his second year in Beijing and it translated into a team-best 25 points a night while shooting better than 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from beyond the arc. He was also the team’s leading passer with 7.6 assists a night while adding 5.4 rebounds and 1.5 steals.

The Ducks won the regular season series with the Sharks, 3-1.