The McDonald's Championship (sometimes called the McDonald's Open) was an international men's professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

club cup competition that featured a representative of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(representing

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) against champion club teams from

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, the National Basketball League (representing

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), and

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. 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 Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

participated. In each of the nine years the McDonald's Championship was held, the title was won by a team from the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

, but twice by a close margin. The first time was in the semifinals in 1990, when the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

trailed Italian club

Scavolini Pesaro Victoria Libertas (also known as "VL" or in Italian ''Vuelle''), full name Unione Sportiva Victoria Libertas Pallacanestro, is a professional basketball team that is based in Pesaro, Italy. The club competes in the top level Italian professiona ...

by three points (107–104) with only 30 seconds on the clock. After successfully defending, the Knicks won possession and

Gerald Wilkins Gerald Bernard Wilkins (born September 11, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player. He is a 6'6" (1.98 m) shooting guard/small forward, who played collegiately at Moberly Area Community College and the University of Tennessee a ...

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 The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

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 ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

held the network television rights from 1987-1989.

Gary Bender Gary Nedrow Bender (born September 1, 1940) is a retired American sportscaster and 2008 inductee into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. He officially retired, April 13, 2011, from Fox Sports Arizona after 18 years calling the NBA's Phoenix Su ...

and

Dick Vitale Richard John Vitale (; born June 9, 1939), also known as "Dickie V", is an American basketball sportscaster. A former head coach in the college and professional ranks, he is well known for his 41-year tenure as a college basketball broadcaster fo ...

provided the commentary for ABC's broadcasts. Supplemental coverage was provided by TBS. Beginning in 1990, American network TV coverage moved over to

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

. NBC would continue to broadcast the finals of the McDonald's Championship through 1997.

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

exclusively covered the final McDonald's Championship event in 1999.

Marv Albert Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American retired sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he ...

, Doug Collins, and

Hubie Brown Hubert Jude Brown (born September 25, 1933) is an American retired basketball coach and player and a current television analyst. Brown is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, the honors being separated by 26 years. Brown was inducted into the Naism ...

were the

commentators Commentator or commentators may refer to: * Commentator (historical) or Postglossator, a member of a European legal school that arose in France in the fourteenth century * Commentator (horse) (foaled 2001), American Thoroughbred racehorse * The Co ...

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 Rule or ruling may refer to: Education * Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE), a university in Cambodia Human activity * The exercise of political or personal control by someone with authority or power * Business rule, a rule perta ...

of both the

and the European leagues (

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its na ...

rules).

Results

MVPs

Finishes

Top 4 finishes by team

Top 4 finishes by country

Notes

References

External links

NBA International Pre-Season and Regular-Season Games
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcdonald's Championship International club basketball competitions NBA vs FIBA Recurring sporting events established in 1987 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1999