Guangzhou Evergrande stationed in the Galaxy Stadium, a moment of popularity, the neighboring Galaxy Stadium is also its sister hall. Even though the name of Guangzhou is the same, but the wind is not the same, but our Guangzhou Long Lions men's basketball team and the city's sports enthusiasm, the south wind driven by the heat wave, the passion of competitive sports surging.
Guangzhou's love for basketball runs deep and has witnessed countless basketball legends.
At the Ninth National Games in 2001, Guangzhou, as the host, regrettably did not witness the Guangdong men's basketball team reach the final. Wang Zhizhi of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) scored 45 points, blocking the young Hongyuan players from making their debut in the Games. That final, 24-year-old Wang Zhizhi and 21-year-old Yao Ming, but the two kings of the interior of the fight, and ultimately by the peak of the "God of War" Liu Yudong bottom corner three-point assassination to determine the winner.
By the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, 33-year-old Wang Zhizhi, a veteran, led China's men's basketball team to regain the Asian title by defeating South Korea in the absence of Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian. The big heart performance at the critical moment allowed Da ZhiZhi to complete his perfect Asian Games finale in Guangzhou, which was also the last title he got for our country.
Although the city is fertile ground for sports, it is thin on top leagues and honors. 2010, Evergrande Group took over the Guangzhou team, renamed Evergrande, which was withdrawn by the Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group, and swept the championships in Asia in just a few years. At the same time, Guangzhou has been waiting for a top basketball club to emerge.
In September 2010, Nanhai Nengxing acquired Shaanxi Lithium Source Power Sports Salon and relocated to Foshan.
After settling in Foshan for 6 years, the team relocated to Guangzhou and became today's Longshi Men's Basketball Team. Thus, the first CBA team in the history of Guangzhou was born, the Galaxy Arena finally made up for the regrets of the southern city, and from then on, Yangcheng not only had the cheers of soccer crossing the lawn, but also the shouts of basketballs piercing the air in the air.
Looking back at the history of the Long Lions, the team's predecessor can be traced back to the Shaanxi Zhenfeng Men's Basketball Salon established in 1997, which was the first professional salon on the Sanqin land. After several name changes, it was changed to Shaanxi Dongsheng Kirin Salon at the end of 2000, and in the following year it emerged from the A-B League to become the first team in the western part of the CBA League. In the 03-04 season, the team made the playoffs for the first time, and in those years, Xi'an Jiaotong University's Siyuan Gymnasium was always the team's home court.
The Shaanxi team began to fall into financial shortages since 2005, and considered moving to Shenzhen after changing hands again in 2007, but ultimately chose to stay. In the 08-09 season, the team achieved brilliant results, "Prison Ball King" Lee Benson and local star Zhang Wei led the team to fourth place in the regular season, but the playoffs due to the departure of foreign aid failed to go further.In the summer of 2009, the team was renamed Shaanxi Lithium Power, but failed to stop the team's decline, and a year later Foshan rose to prominence, the CBA no longer has a Shaanxi team. CBA no longer had a Shaanxi team.
The Foshan men's basketball team's home court is located in the Lingnan Pearl Gymnasium.
Built in 2006, the Lingnan Pearl Gymnasium, which can seat up to 9,500 people, is characterized by its iconic appearance of three domes linking the main gymnasium, the training hall and the mass hall. Before the arrival of the Long Lions, it was once expected to be the home of the Guangdong Fenghuang Aluminum men's basketball team of the 2008 CBA. Despite the Foshan men's basketball team signing Stephon Marbury in its first year and later attempting to bring in Maddie, the record has been poor for several years.
Pressured by performance and team operations, the Foshan men's basketball team officially relocated to Guangzhou in 2016, settling in the Galaxy Stadium despite the imminent completion of a new arena and training base. Located on the central axis of the city of Guangzhou, next to Evergrande's home stadium, Galaxy Stadium, this stadium is located in a bustling sports center with convenient transportation, Galaxy City and Zhengjia Plaza in front of it, and the Guangzhou Sports Institute nearby, which can accommodate up to 9,000 people to watch the game. Whether it's the configuration of the stadium or the location, it is actually one of the best venues in the league, but Evergrande is so bright that it is difficult to show the light of the Galaxy Stadium.
On November 1, 2016, Guangzhou hosted visiting Jilin, which was the debut of the Dragon Lions in Guangzhou and the CBA event that the people of Yangcheng finally welcomed after years of anticipation. However, Guangzhou was ultimately unsuccessful in chasing down the points, and a key turnover by Bahrami saw Guangzhou suffer an opening blackout.
Interestingly, this is not Galaxy Arena's debut in the CBA, as the place had its share of spectacle as early as a decade ago. on Dec. 24, 2006, Guangdong thrashed Xinjiang at home, with Yi Jianlian blasting 28 points, 15 rebounds and three steals, and Hongyuan had five home games scheduled in Guangzhou during the '06-'07 season. Even, this is not the first time Jilin visit, February 4, 2007, Guangdong big win over Jilin, an early round to lock 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 examine the A-League.
The '06-'07 season also marked the first appearance in the CBA of Guangzhou's wind-chasing teenager Chen Jianghua, who grew up in Panyu and made a name for himself playing out of the Weilun Gymnasium and Guangdong Panyu Middle School. In fact, before the season began, 17-year-old Chen Jianghua was brought into the men's basketball team by head coach Yunus, becoming the first player without working league experience to be selected for the national team, and his national team debut was on August 8, 2006, in a warm-up game against the U.S. Dream Team VII.
After that game, Chen Jianghua quickly gained notoriety with his 6 points and 3 assists, and was thought to be a talented youngster about to come out of nowhere, and that game was in Guangzhou, except it wasn't the Galaxy Arena, which was later briefly used as Hongyuan's home court, but the new Guangzhou Arena. Chen Jianghua's sparkling debut may have been an important reason why the Guangdong men's basketball team chose to move part of its home court to Guangzhou, but the teenager has since struggled with injuries for years and eventually fell off the face of the earth, while rumors about Yangcheng and Hongyuan faded away above the jungle in those years.
Longshi follows the pace of Evergrande to land on the new third board, team operation is no longer a problem.
The biggest question left for the Long Lions was how to improve their record.Before the start of the 2017-18 season, Guangzhou selected Chen Yingjun, a backcourt player from Taiwan's treasure island, in the draft and later signed a trio of foreigners in Kyle Fogg, Sonny Sakakini and Tyler Hansbrough, as well as veteran Luo Xudong.The 21-17 win-loss record put the Long Lions in the playoffs for the first time since they changed their name and headed south, with a home record of 14 wins and 5 Losses.
On March 6, 2018, the Galaxy Gym welcomed the first playoff game as the Long Lions returned home after an early loss, with Fogg chipping in 41 points, 6 assists and 4 steals, but Shenzhen foreign aid Jared Salinger chipped in with 31 points and 21 rebounds, controlling the interior while he also dished out 6 assists. In the final moments, Guangzhou once led by 7 points, but Salinger's three points, Li Muhao's front-court rebound scored, Guangzhou eventually reversed out of the game.
The Long Lions continue to chase the playoffs, 18-19 season in the Xijielijiang joined 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, and unfortunately missed the playoffs.
Canton slipped to the bottom 3 of the league in the 19-20 season.
It was a dismal season, but one full of stories for Galaxy Gym.On May 1, 2019, the Dragon Basketball Saloon officially took over the banner and began operating Galaxy Gym, the only saloon in the CBA at the time to directly operate a home gym.
That season, the Long Lions scheduled two heavyweight games against Beijing and Liaoning outside of Galaxy Gym. The Foshan International Sports, Culture and Performing Arts Center, which previously hosted the 2019 Men's Basketball World Cup, was at one point considered the Long Lions' new home, and the other game was back at their old home, the Lingnan Pearl Stadium.
Guangzhou is struggling, from November 30, 2019 to beat Bayi, suffered a wave of 15 consecutive losses.January 18, 2020, Guangzhou home and Qingdao to start the fairy fight, 13 seconds, Jia Mingru three-point Biaojin tied, Zhao Dapeng offensive foul, Chen Yingjun backcourt pick up the ball wildly in the three-person huddle will be the ball to the bottom corner, say when the time is too late, Sikun pick up the ball out of the hands of the whistles of the three-point shootout! The Galaxy Arena has been the scene of another miraculous goal since December 15, 2017, when Christon shut out Zhejiang.
A year and a half passed in a flash, and shortly after Si Kun's shutout, an epidemic brought the league to a halt, and Guangzhou began a new plan during a long hiatus, with Liao Basketball Hall of Famer Guo Shiqiang joining the team, which managed to make the playoffs with 25 wins and 29 losses in the 20-21 season. 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 by virtue of its location is the first choice of the major stars of the China tour, the 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, the Long Lions are not looking forward to creating that kind of luxury team, but nothing can be achieved overnight, the meal is to be eaten 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.
