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 against champion club teams from Europe, Australia, 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]

McDonald's Championship
SportBasketball
Founded1987
Ceased1999
No. of teams8
CountryWorldwide
Last
champion(s)
San Antonio Spurs

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

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).[2][3]

Results

Year Final Third place game
Champion Score Second place 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

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

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.