By: Jay Yeomans
Published: March 17, 2019
The Beijing Ducks did all that they could to make sure that Jimmer Fredette wouldn’t beat them, and the plan worked to perfection.
Fredette torched Beijing from beyond the arc in two games earlier this season, and the Ducks made sure that wouldn’t happen again. They ran double and triple-teams at Fredette all night long, forcing the ball out of his hands so that the BYU legend couldn’t go off and it translated to a 110-97 win for Beijing in the opening game on the 2018-19 playoffs.
Fredette stilled managed to register 20 points on 7-of-18 shooting from the field, but connected on just 2-for-8 from beyond the arc and 4-for-5 at the foul line. He added a game-high five steals, four rebounds, and three assists in 35 minutes on the floor.
The pressure from the Ducks came early as they doubled every screen and roll and sent a third defender if Fredette created even a little bit of separation.
The Sharks were able to hang close for most of the first half, but the strategy took its tool during the second half as the Sharks went through some long scoring droughts as the Ducks pulled away.
Former Lone Peak High School star, Justin Hamilton, paced Beijing in the win, finishing with a game-best 31 points on 13-for-17 shooting from the field while knocking down both his threes and connecting on 3 of 4 from the foul line. He added 10 rebounds and was a massive influence on the defense end of the floor with four key blocks in 39 minutes.
Aaron Jackson added 29 points on 10-for-15 shooting from the floor, including 4-for-6 from distance. He also contributed nine boards and six assists in 30 minutes as the Duck took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.
For the Sharks, Luo Xudong led the way with 24 points on 10-for-14 shooting from the field while Luo Hanchen chipped in with 19 points, three rebounds and a pair of steals in 31 minutes off the bench.
As for Luis Scola, he finished with one of his lowest scoring outputs of the season with 10 points on 2-for-7 shooting from the floor and 5-for-6 from the free-throw line. He added five rebounds but, like Fredette, saw double teams just about every time he touched the ball.
Inside the numbers
- With his 20-point night, Fredette scored at least 20 points in a game for the 42nd time in 44 chances.
- It was the sixth time this season that Fredette had five or more steals in a game.
- The 18 field goal attempts tied for Fredette’s third least shots in a game this year and was the sixth time he failed to take at 20 shots in a contest.
Up next
Fredette and the Sharks head back to Shanghai for game 2 on Tuesday.
JMoneySports 
Jay, Even know the ducks doubled JIMMER most of the game what I observed watching the entire game was the Sharlks have to realize JIMMER is on this team as there superstar import and highest paid players to take the majority of shots in games especially in play off games. JIMMER is to nice lots of times he could take shots he passes off giving his team mates a chance to score this keeping them involved. Now the Sharks making the play offs in the final spot the 12 th best record out of 20 teams the Sharks should realize they made the play offs because of JIMMER play during the regular season so the Sharks strategy for these play offs should be let JIMMER take most of the team’s shots and chances are JIMMER being a volume shooter / scorer soon or later in these play offs will get hot and if JIMMER has an off shooting game and they lose then that’s the chance the Sharks must take. I expect JIMMER at home with the crowd behind hom Tuesday the second play off game to have a usual 40 point JIMMER game and the Sharks win advacing to the third and final. Game in the Ducks arena Friday and anything could happen in the tie breaking game like the Sharks having the momentum. Jay, I think this league counts play off games stats into the regular season, with the 20 point play off game JIMMER ave probably dropped from 36.9 to 36.5 points per game still percentage points a head or the third place per game guy? But my question to you is did you find d out If the league leader with 39. 5 points average will not count because he played in 25 games this year out of 46 games? Is JIMMER leading this league in points per game now? This league seems to use most of the N B A rules in the N B A to qualify for the league leaders the after must play 70% of the team’s regular season games? Let us JIMMER fans know? Thanks Ed. M. from the Glens Falls New York area.
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Jimmer did win the regular season scoring title. That was already decided. You had to play 36 games to be eligible. They also already did the regular season MVP. Jimmer finished second to Darius Adams.
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That’s great news, over that last 3 seasons in China JIMMER has 2 scoring titles, 1 regular season M V P, 1 All-star M V P, he was on 3 starting All-star teams, during his 3 years in China he averaged 37 points per game, shot over 40% from deep, over 90% on free throws, average around 40 minutes per game, with over 5 assists, his rebounding was good for a guard, and he did well in the steals category. During these last 3 years he improved on defense too, so being that he just turned 30 years old hopefully there will be several N B A teams interested in a spot for JIMMER on their team? I know being JIMMER being a devoted husband and father his wife is due for their second child in April 2019, JIMMER expressed that he would like to be playing back in the N B A. I truly hope JIMMER gets another N B A opportunity now then shows N B A Fans his talents. I think plan B for JIMMER basket ball career staying in China playing there is a great second choice, Chineese basketball fans know JIMMER as one of their superstars, they enjoy watching him play there, he is making money there with his shoe line, he’s coming off 3. 5 million 2 year contract half the amount of games in the N B A season , so if he needs to sign in China again say a 2 year deal I think he could receive between 5 to 6 million dollar contract. JIMMER was raised by a great family and has great values / character and what every salary he makes either in the N B A or China finacally he will be alright because he does not seem like an athlete who would miss manage his wealth. Thanks ED M.
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Either he is going to sign with an NBA team or he just wanted to be home for his kids birth. That was a weird series and he didn’t look entirely interested.
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It was a weird series. Never did I think that Jimmer would finish out his Sharks career as a spectator.
The Ducks definitely weren’t going to let Jimmer beat them. They were aggressive and very physical and the Sharks didn’t seem to know how to react.
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Looks like he was going to go on a team.
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Jay, since the Sharks were eliminated from the play off’s 3 days ago on Tuesday 3/19 mainly because the double & triple teams the Ducks put on JIMMER for the 2 games, I have not seen that your site here was up dated yet giving a summery of game 2. And a summery on the news that the Suns of the NBA agreed to give JIMMER a 2 year contract Yesterday? Out of curiosity Jay, will you still keep your JIMMER tracker site going with written accounts and short video’s of JIMMERS SUNS game high lights during these next 2 years? It’s a smart move that he’s going to play for the Suns currently with a losing record in Rebuilding situation , because hopefully JIMMER will be a starter for the Suns and get lots of playing time? The SUNS have 10 games left in there season this year and I heard the Suns want to play JIMMER to verify just how good JIMMER has gotten these past 3 years in China also I heard the Suns will be observing to see how JIMMER fits with their team. Since the Suns presently have one superstar Devin Booker who is only 22 years old, his average is 25 points this year and last season he had a 70 point game, in China JIMMER had two 70 plus games in the last 3 years the 73 point overtime game and the 75 point game I think Jimmers 3 point shooting ability will space the floor nicely for Booker? Maybe this is Jimmers chance to be like another J J Redick who’s average with Philly is like 20 points this season? Thanks Ed. M. From the Glens Falls New York area.
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I didn’t do a report on the final game, knowing that the season was over the that bigger things were right around the corner.
It was a tough way to end three amazing years with the Sharks.
As for the Suns, I will do very in depth game stories including a breakdown of how he scores all his points.
It will be interesting to see how he fits with the young roster and to see if he gets a legitimate chance to prove what he can do.
Thanks for always reaching out.
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