Bayi Rockets

From Hoopedia

Bayi Fubang (八一富邦男子篮球俱乐部) or Bayi Rockets, formerly known as the Bayi Shuanglu Rockets (八一双鹿电池火箭) or Bayi Army Rockets or Bayi Shuanglu are a basketball team in the South Division of the Chinese Basketball Association, based in Ningbo, Zhejiang.

Bayi ("eight-one") means "August First", so the English name of the team could be translated as August First Rockets, but this name is very rarely seen in English-language Chinese media. They were occasionally called Bayi Deers because their main corporate sponsors was the Pairdeer brand of batteries, whose logo is a pair of deer (双鹿, or shuanglu). As of December 22, 2006 Ningbo Fubang (Holdings) Ltd. has become the main sponsor of the Bayi team.

The Rockets play their home games at the Ningbo Youngor Sports Center.

The Bayi Rockets are an army team and their players serve in the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The "Bayi" in their name represents the anniversary of the founding of the PLA. There are also other army teams with the Bayi name in other sports leagues, such as Bayi China Telecom in the WCBA, the men's soccer team Bayi Zhengbang, and the women's soccer team Bayi Xiangtan.

The Bayi Rockets have a long history that predates the currently-existing CBA. When they entered the CBA in its inaugural season in 1995–96, they had already won 34 national titles.

The Bayi Rockets dominated the CBA in its earlier years, winning no less than seven league championships in the first eight years of the CBA, including the first six championships in a row; the first five of those without losing a single playoff match. They also had a home-game unbeaten streak of 65 games that ended in 2002. In recent years, however, other CBA teams have become more competitive, and Bayi won only one championship in the four seasons, through the end of the 2004–05 season.

In the 2004–05 season, the Rockets finished in third place in the South Division and defeated the Beijing Ducks in the quarter-finals, but lost in the semi-finals to the Guangdong Southern Tigers, the defending champions. This was the first time since the founding of the CBA in 1995 that the Bayi Rockets did not make the finals.

In the 2005–2006 season, the Bayi Rockets made the finals but lost to the Guangdong Southern Tigers.

The Rockets turned the tables on the Southern Tigers in 2006-07, however, crushing them in the finals, 4 games to 1, and claiming their eighth CBA title.

The 2007-08 season was the worst one experienced by Bayi history since the start of the CBA in 1995-96, as they finished the regular season with an 18-12 record and were eliminated in the playoffs by the Liaoning Hunters, three games to one.

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