| Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leagues | bj League | |||
| Founded | 1965 | |||
| Arena | Hamamatsu Arena | |||
| Location | Shizuoka Prefecture | |||
| Team colors | Red, White |
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| Head coach | Kazuo Nakamura | |||
| Championships | 1 bj League | |||
| Website | bj-phoenix.com | |||
| Uniforms | ||||
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Hamamatsu Higashimikawa Phoenix (浜松・東三河フェニックス) is a bj league professional basketball team, based in the Hamamatsu and eastern Mikawa region of central Japan.
The team was founded in 1965 as the company team of the OSG Corporation, a Toyokawa-based machine parts manufacturer. It remained a local team in Aichi prefecture until 1995, when it first participated in the All-Japan Professional Basketball Championships. It joined the Japan Basketball League (JBL) in 1999, winning the Second Division championship in 2000. “Higashimikawa” was added to the team name in 2007, when its home stadium was moved to Toyohashi. It ended the 2007 season in third place.
From 2008, the Higashimikawa Phoenix joined the new bj league, and the following year, “Hamamatsu” was added to the team name to emphasize the double franchise between Toyohashi, Hamamatsu and the surrounding districts and the team was legally registered as an independent corporation under the name of “Phoenix Communications”. The team signed the noted Chinese basketball star, Sun Mingming, in 2008. He is currently averaging 8.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. [1]