The 1998–99 CBA season was the fourth season of the Chinese Basketball Association.
The season ran from December 27, 1998, to April 25, 1999.
The Air Force team withdrew from the league before the season got underway, so three clubs were promoted from the Second Division. The Sichuan Pandas, originally relegated at the end of the previous campaign, earned a reprieve. They were joined by the Jilin Northeast Tigers and Beijing Olympians.
Regular season standings These are the final standings for the 1998-99 CBA regular season. # 1998–99 CBA season Team 1Bayi Rockets 21 1 .955 - 11–0 10–1 2Liaoning Hunters 15 7 .682 6 9–2 6–5 3Guangdong Southern Tigers 13 9 .591 8 7–4 6–5 GD: 3-1SD: 2-2BO: 1-34Shandong Flaming Bulls 13 9 .591 8 9–2 4–7 5Beijing Olympians 13 9 .591 8 7–4 6–5 6Shanghai Sharks 12 10 .545 9 8–3 4–7 7Beijing Ducks 11 11 .500 10 7–4 4–7 8Zhejiang Squirrels 10 12 .455 11 5–6 5–6 9Sichuan Pandas 9 13 .409 12 7–4 2–9 10Jilin Northeast Tigers 8 14 .364 13 8–3 0–11 11Jiangsu Dragons 5 17 .227 16 4–7 1–10 12Ji'nan Army 2 20 .091 19 2–9 0–11 + Key to colors Top 8 teams advance to the Playoffs Bottom 4 teams advance to the Relegation Round
Playoffs The top 8 teams in the regular season advanced to the playoffs.
For the first time, the semifinals used best-of-five series to determine the advancing team.
In the Finals, the Bayi Rockets defeated the Liaoning Hunters (3-0), claiming their fourth straight CBA championship.
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.
Relegations The bottom 4 teams played the relegation phase by round-robin.
The Ji'nan Army and Sichuan Pandas were relegated to the Second Division.
TeamWLPFPAPDJilin Northeast Tigers60649574+75Jiangsu Dragons24590649−59Ji'nan Army15575630−55Sichuan PandasA decision was made post-season on May 19, 1999. Sichuan was relegated for cheating on timer and scoring in two regular season games respectively. Sichuan was made the last place officially.33670631+39 + Key to colors Bottom 2 teams relegated to the Second Division JSJLJASC Jiangsu Dragons–92-100108-98120-111 Jilin Northeast Tigers100-92–109-87117-103 Ji'nan Army108-8592-112–101-109 Sichuan Pandas132-93108-111107-89–
CBA Awards These are the award winners for the 1998-99 CBA regular season. CBA Most Valuable Player: Sun Jun (Jilin Northeast Tigers)
See also Chinese Basketball Association
References