Guangzhou Evergrande Group is located in Galaxy Stadium, which has spread its reputation far and wide, and the neighboring Galaxy Stadium also adds color to the city. Despite the difference in geographic location, the glorious history of our Guangzhou Long Lions men's basketball team and the city's fervor for sports are in the same vein, and the atmosphere in the south is filled with the passion of competitive sports.
The people of Guangzhou have a deep love for basketball and have witnessed countless basketball legends.
In 2001, the Ninth National Games, Guangzhou as the host unfortunately failed to see the Guangdong men's basketball team into the final, Wang Zhizhi with 45 points of outstanding performance, blocking the young Hongyuan soldiers in the Games for the first time the rise. That final, 24-year-old Wang Zhizhi and 21-year-old Yao Ming met, but the two inside the king of the fight, and finally in the peak of the "God of War" Liu Yudong bottom corner three-point shootout ended.
At the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, 33-year-old Wang Zhizhi interpreted the legend of the veteran, in the absence of Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian, he led China's men's basketball team to win over South Korea and regain the Asian championship. Key moment of the big heart performance, big Lizhi in guangzhou completed his Asian Games perfect closing, this is also his for our country to get the last championship.
Guangzhou has traditionally had a sporting heritage, but has been somewhat depressed in terms of top leagues and honors. in 2010, Evergrande Group took over the Guangzhou team, renamed Evergrande, and in just a few years swept the board, winning the Asian Championship. Meanwhile, Guangzhou has been looking forward to the rise of a top basketball club.
In September 2010, Nanhai Nengxing acquired Shaanxi Lithium Source Power Sports Salon and moved to Foshan.
Six years after settling in Foshan, this team moved to Guangzhou and became today's Longshi Men's Basketball Team. As a result, the first CBA team in Guangzhou's history was born, and the Galaxy Arena finally filled in the regrets of the south, and from then on, the city of Yangcheng not only had the applauding of the soccer ball crossing the grass, but also the shouting of the basketball crossing the air.
Looking back at the past of the Long Lions, the predecessor of the team can be traced back to the establishment of the Shaanxi Zhenfeng Men's Basketball Salon in 1997, the first professional salon in the land of Sanqin, followed by twists and turns, the end of 2000 was renamed Shaanxi Dongsheng Kirin Salon, one year later, it was from the A B League, became the first western team on the CBA map, the first time to kill the playoffs in the season of 03-04, in those years, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Siyuan Gymnasium served as the team's home court for a long time.
Shaanxi began to fall into the plight of lack of funds after 05 years, 07 years again after the change of hands had wanted to move division Shenzhen, but eventually stayed, and in 08-09 season to create brilliant, "prison ball king" Lee Benson and local star Zhang Wei led the team to the regular season to achieve fourth place, but the playoffs due to the departure of the double foreign aid failed to win.09 summer. The team was renamed Shaanxi Lithium Power, but that didn't stop the team's decline, and Foshan appeared a year later, and there has been no more Shaanxi in the CBA since then.
The Foshan men's basketball team's home court is located in the Lingnan Pearl Gymnasium.
Completed in 2006, the Lingnan Pearl Gymnasium can accommodate up to 9,500 people, with its signature architectural appearance of three domes connecting the main gymnasium, the training hall and the mass hall. Prior to the arrival of the Long Lions, the Guangdong Fenghuang Aluminum men's basketball team, once a hopeful to enter the CBA in 2008, had used it as its home court. Although the Foshan men's basketball team signed Stephon Marbury in its first year and later hoped to lure Maddie, the record has been poor between several years.
Pressured by performance and team operations, the Foshan men's basketball team officially moved to Guangzhou in 2016, settling in the Galaxy Stadium despite the imminent completion of a new arena and training base. This stadium is located in the central axis of the city of Guangzhou, adjacent to Evergrande's home field Galaxy Stadium, in the bustling sports center, convenient transportation, Galaxy City and Zhenggia Plaza in front, and nearby Guangzhou Sports Institute, which can accommodate 9,000 people to watch the game at the same time, whether it's the configuration of the ballpark or the location, in fact, counted as one of the league's excellent venues, however, Evergrande is too dazzling, and it is difficult to show the light in the end.
November 1, 2016, Guangzhou sat at home to face the visiting Jilin, which is the debut of the Dragon Lions in Guangzhou, but also the people of Yangcheng City after several years of anticipation is finally looking forward to the CBA tournament, but Guangzhou final time to chase points failed, Bacharami fatal error, Guangzhou suffered the opening black.
Interestingly, that wasn't the Galaxy Arena's debut in the CBA, as it had its share of spectacle a decade earlier. on Dec. 24, 2006, Yi Jianlian scored 28 points, 15 rebounds and three steals in Guangdong's home win over Xinjiang, and Hongyuan had five home games in Guangzhou in the '06-'07 season. Even that is not the first time Jilin visit, February 4, 2007, Guangdong beat Jilin early round to determine the top of the regular season, the most striking thing about that game is the sidelines of the Celtics general manager Danny Angel, the scene to watch the game to check out the A-League.
The 06-07 season also marked the CBA debut of Guangzhou's wind-chasing teenager Chen Jianghua, who grew up in Panyu and made a name for himself at Weilun Sports School and Guangdong Panyu Middle School. In fact, before the start of the season, 17-year-old Chen Jianghua was brought into the men's basketball team by head coach Jonas, and was the first player without working league experience to be selected for the national team, and his debut for the national team was on August 8, 2006 with the U.S. Dream Team VII in a warm-up game.
After that game, Chen Jianghua, who delivered 6 points and 3 assists, quickly spread his fame in the north and south of the Yangtze River, and there was a talented young man to come out of the blue, and that game was exactly in Guangzhou, but it was not the Galaxy Stadium, which was later briefly used as the home of Hongyuan, but the new Guangzhou Stadium. Chen Jianghua's bright debut may be the Guangdong men's basketball team chose to move part of the home to Guangzhou, but the teenage career after a long struggle with injuries, and eventually fell, and those years about the Yangcheng and Hongyuan gossip gradually disappeared in the jianghu above.
Longshi follows in Evergrande's footsteps and lands on the New Third Board, where team operations are no longer an issue.
The biggest question left for the Long Lions is how to improve their record. before the start of the 17-18 season, Guangzhou took off Chen Yingjun, a backcourt player from the island of Taiwan, in the draft, and later signed a trio of foreign aiders in Kyle Fogg, Sonny Sakakini and Tyler Hansbrough, as well as veteran Luo Xudong. with 21 wins and 17 losses, the Long Lions have made the playoffs for the first time since changing their name to South China, and are 14-5 at home.
On March 6, 2018, the Galaxy Gym welcomed the first playoff game, the Long Lions first lost a game back to the home court, Fogg cut 41 points, 6 assists and 4 steals, but could not hold the Shenzhen foreign aid Jared Salinger cut 31 points and 21 rebounds, controlling the interior at the same time he also dished out 6 assists. The final time, Guangzhou once led by 7 points, but Salinger's three points, Li Muhao's front-court rebounds, Guangzhou eventually reversed out of the game.
The Long Lions continue to chase the playoffs, 18-19 season in the West Heat Lijiang to join the situation 5 wins and 1 loss, but then the replacement of foreign aid led to the team's rhythm is out of control, the penultimate battle at the end of the season, March 10, 2019 hosted Zhejiang, Guangzhou was Marcus Dengmeng and Wu Qian two hand in hand to shoot 14 three-pointers, swallowed three consecutive defeats. Guangzhou was tied with Zhejiang and Shanghai with 23 wins and 23 losses, but unfortunately did not qualify for the playoffs.
Canton slipped into the abyss in the 19-20 season, finishing 3rd from the bottom of the league.
It was a dismal season, but one with many stories for Galaxy Gym.On May 1, 2019, the Dragon Basketball Saloon officially took over the banner to begin operating Galaxy Gym, the only club in the CBA at the time to directly operate a home gym.
That season, the Long Lions in addition to the Galaxy Stadium, but also scheduled two heavyweights against Beijing and Liaoning in the Foshan International Sports Culture and Performing Arts Center, which previously hosted the 2019 Men's Basketball World Cup, that 15,000-person stadium was once also considered to be the Long Lions' new home, and another returned to its old home, the Lingnan Pearl Stadium.
Guangzhou is struggling, starting from defeating Bayi on November 30, 2019, suffered a wave of 15 consecutive defeats.On January 18, 2020, Guangzhou's home and Qingdao God's fight, 13 seconds, Jia Mingru three-point Biao into the tie, Zhao Dapeng offensive foul, Chen Yingjun backcourt pick up the ball wildly, in the three people surrounded by the ball to the bottom corner, when it's too late, Sikun catch the ball out of the hand, hand, whistling three-point shutout. End the losing streak, since December 15, 2017 Christon shutout Zhejiang, Galaxy Gym another performance of magic goals.
A year and a half went by in a flash, and shortly after Si Kun's shutout, an epidemic brought the league to a halt, and Guangzhou began a brand new plan in the midst of a long hiatus, with Liao Basketball Hall of Famer Guo Shiqiang joining the team, and the 20-21 season saw 25 wins and 29 losses and the odd playoff appearance. As Chen Yingjun, Zhu Mingzhen, Tian Yuhang and Guo Kai matured, Guangzhou grew into a more resilient team under Guo's leadership, and when they return to Galaxy Stadium again, the story will turn over a new chapter.
Galaxy Sports Center thanks to the location is the first choice of major stars in China, Galaxy Arena carries the love of basketball in Yangcheng, many NBA stars such as Dwayne Wade, Kevin Durant, James Harden and so on have visited. As Evergrande's neighbor, Longshi no day does not expect to create that kind of luxury team, but nothing can not be achieved overnight, the meal is to eat one bite at a time.
From Shaanxi to Guangzhou, Longshi has traveled through turbulent years, and Galaxy Stadium is ready for anything, just waiting to be built.
