Guangdong Southern Tigers and China national team power forward Yi Jianlian was named Asia-basket's CBA Player of the Week for Round 30. (Photo : Getty Images)
Guangdong Southern Tigers power forward Yi Jianlian took the Player of the Week honors to conclude Round 30 of the 2015-2016 Chinese Basketball Association season after leading his team to a thrilling 118-114 win over the Jilin Northeast Tigers at the Changchun Gymnasium on Jan. 13, Wednesday.
The 28-year-old former National Basketball Association player had a double-double performance during their nip-and-tuck affair with the Northeast Tigers last week, scoring 48 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in the highly contested match, as per Asia-basket.
Yi, who pulled off an impressive 60 percent shooting from the field during the game as reported by Shanghai Daily, saved his best for last as he took over the game during the final period. He overpowered their opponent's bigs inside the paint with his sheer size and noticeably higher quality inside scoring skills from the start of the fourth quarter.
The former Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey Nets, Washington Wizards, and Dallas Mavericks standout dunked four times during the entire contest, stamping his class over Jilin's smaller frontcourt.
Yi was the sixth overall selection of the 2007 NBA Draft by the Bucks and went on to have a five-year career in the NBA with the above-mentioned teams.
He is currently playing his ninth season in the CBA, all with Guangdong, averaging 26.7 points and 9.6 rebounds this season. His career averages for the Southern Tigers are 18.3 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists.
Guangdong is currently at the sixth spot of the CBA table with 51 points and a 21-9 win-loss record, just a point behind fifth-running Shandong Golden Stars and four points behind league leaders Xinjiang Flying Tigers.
