Guangdong Southern Tigers

From Hoopedia

Guangdong Winnerway (Hongyuan) Southern Tigers (广东宏远宝玛仕华南虎) or Guangdong Southern Tigers or Guangdong Winnerway (Hongyuan) are the basketball team owned by the Guangdong Winnerway (Hongyuan) Group playing in the Chinese Basketball Association, based in Dongguan, Guangdong at the Dongguan City Stadium. They also play some home games in Zhongshan, Guangdong.

They won the CBA championship three years in a row, from the 2003–04 season to the 2005–06 season. They were runner-up in 2006-07, but won the title again in 2007-08.

In the 2004–05 season, the Southern Tigers finished in second place in the South Division, defeated the Jilin Northeast Tigers in the quarter-finals and the Bayi Rockets in the semi-finals, and then defeated the Jiangsu Dragons in the finals. In 2005-06 Guangdong had an exceptional regular season, ending with a 37-5 record. They then crushed the powerful Bayi Rockets 4 games to 1 to win the league title.

In 2006-07 the Southern Tigers swept to a 26-4 regulars season record, but lost the championship to their old nemesis, Bayi, 4 games to 1. They repeated their 26-4 regular season record in 2007-08, but won the championship, beating the Liaoning Hunters, 4 games to 1.

Yi Jianlian played for the Tigers from 2002–03 season to 2006–07 season before joining the NBA. Laron Profit played for the Tigers in 2002–03 as well as 2003–04 before returning to NBA.

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