The McDonald's Championship (sometimes called the McDonald's Open) was an international men's basketball competition that featured a representative of the National Basketball Association (representing North America) against champion club teams from Europe, the National Basketball League (representing Oceania), and South America (although it also featured the Soviet national team in 1987). The competition was launched as McDonald's Open in 1987 with FIBA sanctioning the event and it was renamed as McDonald's Championship in 1995. FIBA EuroLeague champions participated in the competition from its third edition in 1989, while NBA champions would join from 1995 and onwards.
McDonald's Open received a lot of media and fan attention and it was held annually from 1987 until 1991. Although it was a weekend-long late-October preseason event, both FIBA and the NBA officially accepted it as a Championship. It was not held in 1992, 1994 and 1996 due to the participation of the NBA players in the Olympics and the FIBA World Cup, and also in 1998 because of the NBA lock-out. The all-time scorer of the competition is Bob McAdoo with 158 points in two editions with Olimpia Milano, while Toni Kukoc is the tournament's all-time leader in assists.
History The first competition was held in 1987 and continued annually after that until 1991, when the tournament switched to a biennial event. For the first two years, the men's national teams from Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union participated. In each of the nine years the McDonald's Championship was held, the title was won by a team from the NBA, but twice by a close margin. The first time was in the semifinals in 1990, when the New York Knicks trailed Italian club Scavolini Pesaro by three points (107–104) with only 30 seconds on the clock. After successfully defending, the Knicks won possession and Gerald Wilkins netted a three-pointer with eight seconds remaining to send the game into overtime. The other close game came the following year in 1991, when the Los Angeles Lakers defeated Spanish champions Montigalà Joventut by two points (116–114). Virtus Bologna played in the final in 1993 and 1995 losing both times to NBA teams, and alongside KK Split were the only teams to finish runners-up twice. In 1997, Atenas Cordoba was invited as South American champions for the first time in the history of the McDonald's Open. In 1999, the FIBA Asia basketball club champions, Sagesse Club, participated in the McDonald's Championship, the first and only time Asia was represented in the tournament. The McDonald's Championship was discontinued after 1999 following the 2000 FIBA–EuroLeague dispute which forced FIBA to ultimately lose control of its top-tier European club competition.
Many famous American players like Michael Jordan, Bob McAdoo, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Clyde Drexler, Sam Cassell, Hakeem Olajuwon, Kevin Johnson, Robert Parish, Charles Barkley, Tim Duncan, and Patrick Ewing featured in the competition. Non-American players were Sarunas Marciulionis, Toni Kukoc, Arvydas Sabonis, Predrag Danilovic, Drazen Petrovic, Zarko Paspalj, Fabricio Oberto, Héctor Campana, Arturas Karnisovas, Dino Meneghin, Jordi Villacampa, Alexander Volkov and Riccardo Pittis.
Media coverage In the United States, ABC held the network television rights from 1987 to 1989. Gary Bender and Dick Vitale provided the commentary for ABC's broadcasts. Supplemental coverage was provided by TBS. Beginning in 1990, American network TV coverage moved over to NBC. NBC would continue to broadcast the finals of the McDonald's Championship through 1997. TNT exclusively covered the final McDonald's Championship event in 1999. Marv Albert, Doug Collins, and Hubie Brown were the commentators for TNT in 1999.
Legacy FIBA Secretary General Borislav Stankovic and David Stern (NBA Commissioner from 1984 to 2014), believed that basketball everywhere would benefit if the best players from all countries competed against each other. In 1989, two years after the first McDonald's Open, FIBA voted to allow NBA players to participate in all its tournaments.
Format After the first tournament (three teams championship format), the competition was played in a single elimination format, with the winners of each match advancing to the next round.
Rules The competition combined rules of both the NBA and the European leagues (FIBA rules).SPORTS PEOPLE: PRO BASKETBALL; Nuggets in Rome Meet – The New York Times (July 5, 1989) (retrieved on September 6, 2006)
Results YearFinalThird place gameChampionsScoreRunners-upThirdFourth1987Details Milwaukee Bucks127-100 Soviet Union Tracer Milano1988Details Boston Celtics111–96 Real Madrid Yugoslavia Scavolini Pesaro1989Details Denver Nuggets135–129 Jugoplastika Philips Milano FC Barcelona Banca Catalana1990Details New York Knicks117–101 POP 84 FC Barcelona Banca Catalana Scavolini Pesaro1991Details Los Angeles Lakers116–114 Montigalà Joventut Limoges CSP Slobodna Dalmacija1993Details Phoenix Suns112–90 Buckler Beer Bologna Real Madrid Teka Limoges CSP1995Details Houston Rockets126–112 Buckler Beer Bologna Perth Wildcats Real Madrid Teka1997Details Chicago Bulls104–78 Olympiacos Atenas PSG Racing1999Details San Antonio Spurs103–68 Vasco da Gama Žalgiris Varese Roosters
MVPs The NBA's teams dominated the competition and won all 9 tournaments with their stars picking up all the MVP awards. The award was named after Drazen Petrovic who lost his life in 1993.
YearPlayerTeam1987 Terry Cummings Milwaukee Bucks1988 Larry Bird Boston Celtics1989 Walter Davis Denver Nuggets1990 Patrick Ewing New York Knicks1991 Magic Johnson Los Angeles Lakers1993 Charles Barkley Phoenix Suns1995 Clyde Drexler Houston Rockets1997 Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls1999 Tim Duncan San Antonio Spurs
Top-scorers Only three NBA players won this honor: Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing and Larry Bird.
YearPlayerTeam1987 Bob McAdoo Tracer Milano1988 Larry Bird Dražen Petrović Boston Celtics Real Madrid 1989 Bob McAdoo (2) Philips Milano1990 Patrick Ewing New York Knicks1991 Jordi Villacampa Montigalà Joventut1993 Joe Arlauckas Real Madrid Teka1995 Orlando Woolridge Buckler Beer Bologna1997 Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls1999 Charles Byrd Vasco da Gama
Finishes Top 4 finishes by team TeamChampionsRunners-upThird placeFourth place Boston Celtics1000 Chicago Bulls1000 Denver Nuggets1000 Houston Rockets1000 Los Angeles Lakers1000 Milwaukee Bucks1000 New York Knicks1000 Phoenix Suns1000 San Antonio Spurs1000 Split0201 Virtus Bologna0200 Real Madrid0111 Joventut Badalona0100 Olympiacos0100 Soviet Union0100 Vasco da Gama0100 Olimpia Milano0020 FC Barcelona0011 Limoges CSP0011 Atenas0010 Perth Wildcats0010 Yugoslavia0010 Žalgiris0010 Victoria Libertas0002 Racing Paris0001 Varese0001
Top 4 finishes by country CountryChampionsRunners-upThird placeFourth place United States9000 Italy0223 Spain0222 Yugoslavia0210 Brazil0100 Greece0100 Soviet Union0100 France0012 Argentina0010 Australia0010 Lithuania0010 Croatia0001
See also EuroLeague American Tour List of games played between NBA and international teams Naismith Cup NBA Canada Series NBA Global Games NBA versus EuroLeague games FIBA Intercontinental Cup
Notes
References
Sources FIBA and McDonald's 1987-99
External links NBA International Pre-Season and Regular-Season Games List of champions at a-d-c