THEY came close but it was still not good enough. The Shanghai Sharks’ 95-102 overtime loss to the Shenzhen Leopards in Game 5 of the 2016-17 CBA playoff quarterfinals last Sunday broke the hearts of local basketball fans, who were expecting the team to go further after their best season in the last seven years.

The Sharks finished third in the 20-team CBA table after leading for the majority of the regular season. Their impressive performance over the past four months was largely due to one player — the 28-year-old point guard Jimmer Fredette, who was brought by club owner Yao Ming along with French power forward Guerschon Yabusele.

Fredette soon became the backbone of the team, averaging a league-high 37.6 points in each game till the playoff quarterfinals. During the Sharks’ away match against the Zhejiang Lions in Hangzhou on February 19, Fredette scored an astonishing 73 points, which was both his personal best and the highest points a player has ever scored in a match for the Sharks. But it was still not good enough for the visitors who lost the match 132-135 in double overtime.

Fredette was voted the foreign MVP of the 2016-17 regular season.

The Sharks’ home court at Pudong’s Yuanshen Stadium, with a limited capacity of just 5,000 seats, rarely filled up in the past few years because of the team’s poor performances. But after an eye-catching six successive victories at the beginning of the season, tickets for the Sharks games became hot property as fans packed the stands for every single game after that.

Fredette was instrumental for the turnaround. Born in New York, Fredette started his playing career in America’s college basketball, and named the National Player of the Year in 2011.

He was selected with the 10th overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft, but only managed limited playing time with four different teams — Sacramento Kings, Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Pelicans and New York Knicks — over five NBA seasons. He spent the majority of the 2015-16 season in the NBA Development League and won the All-Star Game MVP.

In 2016, Yao Ming invited him to China and join the Shanghai Sharks.

Fredette was nicknamed “God of Loneliness” by Shanghai fans since his name Jimmer sounded like jimo — loneliness in Chinese. “I like the nickname, and regard it as a kind of approval from my fans,” Fredette said earlier.

His arrival turned Sharks, which was denounced by some fans as a “one-man team.” It was partially true.

Fredette missed the Sharks’ first playoff match against the Leopards in Shenzhen due to the birth of his first child. The Sharks went on to lose 75-115.

The American then returned to the team, scoring 39 and 33 points in the next two home matches to give the Sharks a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five playoff quarterfinals.

Fredette continued his dominating performance in the next two quarterfinal clashes, scoring 39 and 50 points respectively. However, compared with Shenzhen’s foreign players, Fredette was getting less support from his Chinese teammates.

Despite the defeat in the playoffs, there was huge support for the Sharks, especially Fredette. The fans waited outside the stadium, chanting Fredette’s name and urging him to stay for “one more year.”

Fredette has been linked to Yao’s former team, the Houston Rockets.

“It’s common for CBA’s foreign players to join the NBA after the Chinese season is over,” Zhu Jun, the spokesperson of Sharks, told Shanghai Daily. “Jimmer is an excellent player, who will surely be our top candidate when the team chooses foreign players next season.”

Before taking off for the US, Fredette expressed his loyalty to the Sharks, saying it would be his first choice if he makes a return to CBA. He was seen off by fans at Pudong International Airport on Tuesday morning.

Fredette said he wanted to take some time off competition and enjoy being a father for a while before deciding on his next move. “I actually have no idea (whether I will come back to CBA next season). Right now I’m just focused on getting healthy and will worry about the future later,” he told reporters.

“At the beginning of this season, nobody expected us to be in this position. We believed in ourselves all year and played as hard as we could. I’m proud to be these guys’ teammate and a part of Shanghai Sharks’ organization. It (the result) didn’t come out the way we wanted it to, but there is a lot to be proud of this season,” said Fredette.

According to head coach Liu Peng, Fredette and Yabusele merged very quickly into the team, which was the key to the Sharks’ performance this year. However, key injuries in the later part of the season, as well as their frail bench, cost them a place in the next round.

Sharks guard Liu Xiaoyu struggled with a detached toenail in the playoffs, Yabusele twisted his ankle, and guard Lu Wei was out with a torn ligament in the knee. “The team had too many injuries while our bench was weak too,” Liu said. “In the last two matches, we had to depend only on Fredette.”

The Sharks are looking forward to management changes next season after owner Yao was elected as the new CBA president. Yao said he would look for a new investor for the club.

“Our opponents had five players that reached double figures (in Game 5), while we only had Fredette, Zhang Zhaoxu and Cai Liang who could manage that,” Liu said after the loss to Shenzhen. “We need to be better next year.”

The Sharks fans will be hoping the same. “Unlike before, the Sharks gave us the confidence that even if they are some points behind, they can turn things around,” said Wang Dalei, the former goalkeeper of Shanghai Greenland Shenhua, who attended Sharks’ last playoff match at Yuanshen Stadium. “The team was well united.”

The CBA, meanwhile, would have noted the emergence of domestic talents this season — something that the Sharks struggled with.

The Shandong Golden Stars’ 23-year-old small forward Ding yanyuhang averaged 24.2 points in each game, and voted the domestic MVP of the regular season. Liaoning Flying Leopards are banking on 23-year-old point guard Guo Ailun who contributed an average of 20 points in each game. Xinjiang Flying Tigers have 21-year-old center Zhou Qi, while Zhejiang Lions are seeing potential in their 19-year-old duo Hu Jinqiu and Zhao Yanhao.