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

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 (appro ...

competition that featured a representative of the

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

(representing

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) against champion club teams from

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, the National Basketball League (representing

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

), and

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(although it also featured the Soviet national team in 1987). The competition was launched as ''McDonald's Open'' in 1987 with

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...

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

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 The FIBA Basketball World Cup is an international basketball competition between the senior men's national teams of the members of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the sport's global governing body. It takes place every four ye ...

, 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 Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and the team is sometimes ...

, 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 , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

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

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 Košarkaški klub Split (), commonly referred to as KK Split or simply Split, is a men's professional basketball Sports club, club based in Split, Croatia, Split, Croatia. The club competes in the ABA League and the HT Premijer liga, Croatian Leag ...

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. Phil Jackson Lipofsky

Many famous American players like

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...

, Bob McAdoo, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Clyde Drexler, Sam Cassell, Hakeem Olajuwon, Kevin Johnson,

Robert Parish Robert Lee Parish (born August 30, 1953) is an American former professional basketball player. A 7'1" Center (basketball), center, nicknamed "the Chief", Parish played for four teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1976 to 199 ...

, Charles Barley, Tim Duncan, 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 Hubert Jude Brown (born September 25, 1933) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and analyst. Brown is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, the honors separated by 26 years. Brown was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Bas ...

were the commentators for TNT in 1999.

Legacy

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 Rule or ruling may refer to: Human activity * The exercise of political or personal control by someone with authority or power * Business rule, a rule pertaining to the structure or behavior internal to a business * School rule, a rule tha ...

of both the NBA and the European leagues (

rules).

Results

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. Larry Bird Lipofsky

Topscorers

Only three NBA players won the award:

, Patrick Ewing and Larry Bird. Mcadoo 1973

Finishes

Top 4 finishes by team

Top 4 finishes by country

Notes

References

Sources

FIBA and McDonald's1987-99

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcdonald's Championship McDonald's basketball tournaments International club basketball competitions NBA vs FIBA Recurring sporting events established in 1987 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 1999