On the evening of April 16, Beijing time, the CBA playoffs continued, and the Shanghai men's basketball team defeated the Beijing men's basketball team 118-98 at home, defeating the opponent with a big score of 2-1 and getting the last ticket to the quarterfinals.
In this key game of winning or going home, Yan Pengfei, the substitute of the Shanghai team, unexpectedly broke out and became the biggest surprise on the court, and his performance even surpassed the team's main center Wang Zhelin and became the biggest contributor to the elimination of the Beijing men's basketball team.
In the previous two rounds of the game, Yan Pengfei didn't get many opportunities, and his performance was mediocre in a limited time, with 4 points and 1 assist in one game, and the other game was even more scoreless, only getting 2 rebounds, which made him questioned, and was even ridiculed by fans as unworthy of being Wang Zhelin's substitute. However, in this battle of life and death, Yan Pengfei completed a gorgeous counterattack and responded to all doubts with his performance.
In the first quarter of the game, Yan Pengfei showed a strong desire to attack, and he scored 4 points and 3 rebounds in just 5 minutes through two frontcourt rebounds, and his score has tied his single-game high this season. In the second quarter, Yan Pengfei's performance was even more explosive, he shot 5 of 5 in 4 minutes, including a three-pointer, and scored 11 points and 5 rebounds in a single quarter. By the end of the first half, Yan Pengfei had already scored 15 points and 8 rebounds with a 100% shooting rate.
In the second half, Yan Pengfei continued to maintain a hot hand, and his mid-range shot and hook hand under the basket helped the team stabilize its position. Despite a hook in the third quarter, he had 17 points and nine rebounds in the first three quarters. In the final quarter, Yan Pengfei played again, he protected the rebound and shot Wang Zhelin during the break, although he failed to achieve the feat of 25+, his performance in the whole game was good enough.
In the end, Yan Pengfei made 9 of 13 shots and 1 of 1 three-pointer in 26 minutes of playing time, and efficiently scored 22 points, 12 rebounds and 1 assist, with a shooting rate of 69.2% and a three-point shooting rate of 100%. In contrast, Wang Zhelin, who started the game, only scored 6 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block on 3 of 8 shots in 22 minutes, and his performance was indeed inferior to Yan Pengfei.
In this game, Yan Pengfei not only proved his worth, but also showed the fact that substitute players can also play a key role in basketball games. Shanghai reporter Xue Sijia also spoke highly of Yan Pengfei's performance, believing that Yan Pengfei's performance in the past 12 minutes was crucial when the two teams knew the roots, and his efficient performance laid a solid foundation for the Shanghai men's basketball team to win the final victory.