McDonald's Championship

The McDonald's Championship (sometimes called the McDonald's Open) was an international men's professional basketball club cup 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. 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.[1]

For the LPGA Tour golf tournament, see McDonald's Championship (golf).
McDonald's Championship
SportBasketball
Founded1987
Ceased1999
No. of teams6
CountryInternational
Last
champion(s)		 San Antonio Spurs (1st title)
Most titles 9 NBA teams (1 title each)

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 just two points (116–114).

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.

History

Names of the competition
  • McDonald's Open: 1987–1993
  • McDonald's Championship: 1995–1999

Media coverage

In the United States, ABC[2] held the network television rights from 1987-1989.[3] Gary Bender[4] and Dick Vitale[5] provided the commentary for ABC's broadcasts. Supplemental coverage was provided by TBS.[6][7]

Beginning in 1990, American network TV coverage[8] moved over to NBC.[9][10] NBC would continue to broadcast the finals of the McDonald's Championship through 1997.[11]

TNT[12] exclusively covered the final McDonald's Championship event in 1999.[13] Marv Albert,[14] Doug Collins, and Hubie Brown[15] were the commentators for TNT in 1999.

Format

After the first tournament (3 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).[16][17]

Results
Year Final Third place game
Champions Score Runners-up Third Fourth
1987
Details
Milwaukee Bucks		 League
Soviet Union
Tracer Milano		 N/A
1988
Details
Boston Celtics		 111–96
Real Madrid
Yugoslavia
Scavolini Pesaro
1989
Details
Denver Nuggets		 135–129
Jugoplastika
Philips Milano
FC Barcelona Banca Catalana
1990
Details
New York Knicks		 117–101
POP 84
FC Barcelona Banca Catalana
Scavolini Pesaro
1991
Details
Los Angeles Lakers		 116–114
Montigalà Joventut
Limoges CSP
Slobodna Dalmacija
1993
Details
Phoenix Suns		 112–90
Buckler Beer Bologna
Real Madrid Teka
Limoges CSP
1995
Details
Houston Rockets		 126–112
Buckler Beer Bologna
Perth Wildcats
Real Madrid Teka
1997
Details
Chicago Bulls		 104–78
Olympiacos
Atenas
PSG Racing
1999
Details
San Antonio Spurs		 103–68
Vasco da Gama
Žalgiris
Varese Roosters

MVPs
Year Player Team
1987 Terry Cummings Milwaukee Bucks
1988 Larry Bird Boston Celtics
1989 Walter Davis Denver Nuggets
1990 Patrick Ewing New York Knicks
1991 Magic Johnson Los Angeles Lakers
1993 Charles Barkley Phoenix Suns
1995 Clyde Drexler Houston Rockets
1997 Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls
1999 Tim Duncan San Antonio Spurs

Finishes

Top 4 finishes by team
Team Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place
Boston Celtics 1 0 0 0
Chicago Bulls 1 0 0 0
Denver Nuggets 1 0 0 0
Houston Rockets 1 0 0 0
Los Angeles Lakers 1 0 0 0
Milwaukee Bucks 1 0 0 0
New York Knicks 1 0 0 0
Phoenix Suns 1 0 0 0
San Antonio Spurs 1 0 0 0
Split [lower-alpha 1] 0 2 0 1
Virtus Bologna [lower-alpha 2] 0 2 0 0
Real Madrid 0 1 1 1
Joventut Badalona 0 1 0 0
Olympiacos 0 1 0 0
Soviet Union 0 1 0 0
Vasco da Gama 0 1 0 0
Olimpia Milano [lower-alpha 3] 0 0 2 0
FC Barcelona 0 0 1 1
Limoges CSP 0 0 1 1
Atenas 0 0 1 0
Perth Wildcats 0 0 1 0
Yugoslavia 0 0 1 0
Žalgiris 0 0 1 0
Victoria Libertas [lower-alpha 4] 0 0 0 2
Racing Paris 0 0 0 1
Varese [lower-alpha 5] 0 0 0 1

Top 4 finishes by country
Country Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place
United States 9 0 0 0
Italy 0 2 2 3
Spain 0 2 2 2
Yugoslavia 0 2 1 0
Brazil 0 1 0 0
Greece 0 1 0 0
Soviet Union 0 1 0 0
France 0 0 1 2
Argentina 0 0 1 0
Australia 0 0 1 0
Lithuania 0 0 1 0
Croatia 0 0 0 1

See also

Notes
  1. Playing under the name of Jugoplastika, POP 84 and Slobodna Dalmacija due to sponsorship reasons.
  2. Playing under the name of Buckler Beer Bologna due to sponsorship reasons.
  3. Playing under the name of Tracer Milano and Philips Milano due to sponsorship reasons.
  4. Playing under the name of Scavolini Pesaro due to sponsorship reasons.
  5. Playing under the name of Varese Roosters due to sponsorship reasons.

References
  1. "A-d-c – Información actualizada de todos los deportes". Archived from the original on 2009-03-24.
  2. Keteyian, Araton, Dardis, Armen, Harvey, Martin F. (1998). Money Players: Inside the New NBA. p. 183. ISBN 9780671568108.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Stewart, Larry (November 10, 1989). "NBC Gets NBA for Four Years, $600 Million". Los Angeles Times.
  4. Stewart, Larry (October 21, 1988). "Garagiola Comes Up With a Good Call on Parker in Last Game". Los Angeles Times.
  5. McCallum, Jack (November 2, 1987). "IN YOUR FACE, COMRADES!". Sports Illustrated.
  6. Sarni, Jim (July 22, 1988). "L.A., BOSTON GET THE AIR; HEAT WILL BE SHOWN ONCE". Sun-Sentinel.
  7. Croatto, Pete (December 2020). From Hang Time to Prime Time: Business, Entertainment, and the Birth of the ... p. 284. ISBN 9781982103958.
  8. Herbert, Steven (October 13, 1990). "SPORTS ON WEEKEND TV". Los Angeles Times.
  9. Herbert, Steven (October 31, 1990). "Enberg to Do NBA Play-by-Play". Los Angeles Times.
  10. Winderman, Ira (September 23, 1990). "HEAT WILL BE SCOUTED BY A NEW EXPANSION TEAM: NBC". Sun-Sentinel.
  11. "Bulls, Lakers Among Treats With Openers on Halloween". Los Angeles Times. July 23, 1997.
  12. "1999-00 NBA on Turner Sports". WOnline, Wizards Online.
  13. "AROUND & ABOUT". The Buffalo News. October 15, 1999.
  14. "1999 McDonalds Open: San Antonio Spurs v Varese". Getty Images. October 15, 1999.
  15. "BOSNIAN SERB WITH NBA SHOT AWAITS REINVENTION IN U.S." The Washington Post.
  16. SPORTS PEOPLE: PRO BASKETBALL; Nuggets in Rome Meet – The New York Times (July 5, 1989) (retrieved on September 6, 2006)
  17. "Bulls win another championship; beat Greeks in McDonald's final".
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