1997–98 Chinese Basketball Association season

Sports season

1997–98 CBA season

League| Chinese Basketball Association
Sport| Basketball
Duration| November 23, 1997 – March 29, 1998
TV partner(s)| CCTV-5
Regular Season
Season champions| Shandong Flaming Bulls
Season MVP|  Gong Xiaobin
Promoted to Second Division| Ji'nan Army
Zhejiang Squirrels
Relegated to Second Division| Shenyang Army
Sichuan Pandas
Playoffs
Finals
Champions| Bayi Rockets
Runners-up| Liaoning Hunters
CBA seasons

← 1996–97

1998–99 →

The 1997–98 CBA season was the third season of the Chinese Basketball Association.

The season ran from November 23, 1997, to March 29, 1998.

The Ji'nan Army and Zhejiang Squirrels had been relegated to the Second Division after the previous season, but extenuating circumstances earned reprieves for both teams, and the league played with the same 12 clubs for the second straight year.[1][2]

## Regular Season Standings

[edit]

These are the final standings for the 1997-98 CBA regular season.[2]

#  | 1997–98 CBA season

|

Team  |  W  |  L  |  PCT  |  GB  |  Home  |  Road  |  Tiebreaker
1  | Shandong Flaming Bulls | 19 | 3 | .864 | - | 11–0 | 8–3 | SD 1-1 (163-149) BY
2  | Bayi Rockets | 19 | 3 | .864 | - | 10–1 | 9–2
3  | Liaoning Hunters | 17 | 5 | .773 | 2 | 10–1 | 7–4 |
4  | Beijing Ducks | 14 | 8 | .636 | 5 | 9–2 | 5–6 |
5  | Jiangsu Dragons | 12 | 10 | .545 | 7 | 8–3 | 4–7 | JS 1-1 (161-152) SH
6  | Shanghai Sharks | 12 | 10 | .545 | 7 | 6–5 | 6–5
7  | Guangdong Southern Tigers | 10 | 12 | .455 | 9 | 7–4 | 3–8 |
8  | Ji'nan Army | 9 | 13 | .409 | 10 | 7–4 | 2–9 |
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
9  | Sichuan Pandas | 7 | 15 | .318 | 12 | 3–8 | 4–7 |
10  | Shenyang Army | 6 | 16 | .273 | 13 | 4–7 | 2–9 |
11  | Air Force | 4 | 18 | .182 | 15 | 3–8 | 1–10 |
12  | Zhejiang Squirrels | 3 | 19 | .136 | 16 | 2–9 | 1–10 |
Key to colors  | Top 8 teams advance to the Playoffs

|

| Bottom 4 teams advance to the Relegation Round

## Playoffs

[edit]

The top 8 teams in the regular season advanced to the playoffs.

For the first time, the quarterfinals and semifinals used best-of-three series, to determine the advancing team.

In the best-of-five Finals, the Bayi Rockets defeated the Liaoning Hunters (3-0) to win their third straight CBA championship, remaining unbeaten in their CBA playoffs history.[2]

Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in regular season, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. Home court advantage belongs to the team with the better regular season record; teams enjoying the home advantage are shown in italics.

| Quarterfinals
Best of 3 | | | Semifinals
Best of 3 | | | Finals
Best of 5 |

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

|  |  |  | | |  |  |  | | |  |  |  |
| 1 | Shandong Flaming Bulls | 2 | | |
| 5 | Jiangsu Dragons | 1 |
| | 1 | Shandong Flaming Bulls | 0 |
|  |
| | | 3 | Liaoning Hunters | 2 |
| 3 | Liaoning Hunters | 2 |

| 7 | Guangdong Southern Tigers | 1 |
| | 3 | Liaoning Hunters | 0 |
|  |
| | | 2 | Bayi Rockets | 3 |
| 2 | Bayi Rockets | 2 | |

| 8 | Ji'nan Army | 0 |
| | 2 | Bayi Rockets | 2 |
|  |
| | | 4 | Beijing Ducks | 0 |
| 4 | Beijing Ducks | 2 |

| 6 | Shanghai Sharks | 1 |

## Relegations

[edit]

The bottom 4 teams played the relegation phase by round-robin.

The Shenyang Army and Sichuan Pandas were relegated to the Second Division.[2]

| Team  | W  | L  | PF  | PA  | PD

|
|
|
|
|

Zhejiang Squirrels | 6 | 0 | 486 | 404 | +82
Air Force  | 4 | 2 | 437 | 397 | +40
Sichuan Pandas  | 1 | 5 | 431 | 469 | −38
Shenyang Army  | 1 | 5 | 381 | 465 | −84
Key to colors  | Bottom 2 teams relegated to the Second Division

|

|  | AF  | SA  | SC  | ZJ

|
|
|
|

Air Force  | –  | 69–57  | 82–57  | 70–76
Shenyang Army  | 52–70  | –  | 100–86  | 57–82
Sichuan Pandas  | 66–69  | 72–65  | –  | 81–83
Zhejiang Squirrels | 89–77  | 86–50  | 70–69  | –

## CBA Awards

[edit]

These are the award winners for the 1997-98 CBA regular season.[2]

* CBA Most Valuable Player: Gong Xiaobin (Shandong Flaming Bulls)
* Sportsmanship Award: Yao Ming (Shanghai Sharks) & James Hodges (Jiangsu Dragons)
* Outstanding Coach: Wang Fei (Bayi Rockets) & Ye Peng (Shandong Flaming Bulls)

## All-Star Weekend

[edit]

The 1998 CBA All-Star Game was played on April 4, 1998, in Shenyang, Liaoning.

The International All-Stars defeated the Chinese All-Stars 83–80.

James Hodges from the Jiangsu Dragons won the Slam Dunk Contest for the second straight year, and Zhang Jingsong from the Bayi Rockets won the Three-Point Shootout.[1]

## See also

[edit]

* Chinese Basketball Association

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b 新浪体育 (2005-12-07). "97-98赛季CBA-冠名希尔顿 第一位洋帅名叫霍加德". Archived from the original on 21 February 2024. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
2. ^ a b c d e 搜狐体育. "Data Source". Retrieved 2011-11-25.

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