McDonald's Championship
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| Sport | Basketball |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1987 |
| Ceased | 1999 |
| No. of teams | 8 |
| Country | Worldwide |
| Last champion(s) |  San Antonio Spurs |
The McDonald's Championship (sometimes called the McDonald's Open) was an international men's professional basketball 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 biannual event. For the first two years, the men's national teams from Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union participated.
The McDonald's Championship succeeded the FIBA Intercontinental Cup.
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 Joventut Badalona by just two points (116–114).
The McDonald's Championship was discontinued after 1999.
Contents
Format
After the first tournament (3 teams championship format), the competition was disputed in a single elimination format, with the winners of the matches advancing to the next round.
Rules
The competition combined rules of both the NBA and the European leagues (FIBA rules).[1]
List of champions
| Year | Final | Third and fourth place | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champion | Score | Second place | |||||
| 1987 Details |
 Milwaukee Bucks |
League |  Soviet Union |
 Olimpia Milano (Tracer) |
– | ||
| 1988 Details |
Boston Celtics |
111–96 |  Real Madrid |
 Yugoslavia |
Victoria Libertas Pesaro (Scavolini) |
||
| 1989 Details |
Denver Nuggets |
135–129 | Split (Jugoplastika) |
Olimpia Milano (Philips) |
FC Barcelona |
||
| 1990 Details |
New York Knicks |
117–101 | Split (Pop 84) |
FC Barcelona |
Victoria Libertas Pesaro (Scavolini) |
||
| 1991 Details |
Los Angeles Lakers |
116–114 | Joventut Badalona (Montigalà) |
 Limoges |
 Split (Slobodna Dalmacija) |
||
| 1993 Details |
Phoenix Suns |
112–90 | Virtus Bologna (Buckler) |
Real Madrid |
Limoges |
||
| 1995 Details |
Houston Rockets |
126–112 | Virtus Bologna (Buckler) |
 Perth Wildcats |
Real Madrid |
||
| 1997 Details |
Chicago Bulls |
104–78 |  Olympiacos |
 Atenas |
Racing Paris |
||
| 1999 Details |
San Antonio Spurs |
103–68 |  Vasco da Gama |
 Žalgiris |
Varèse (Roosters) |
||
MVPs
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 |
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 Pesaro[lower-alpha 4] |
0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Racing Paris |
0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Varèse[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
- Euroleague American Tour
- FIBA Intercontinental Cup
- List of games played between NBA and international teams
- Naismith Cup
- NBA versus Euroleague games
- NBA Global Games
Notes
- ↑ Playing under the name of Jugoplastika Split, Pop 84 Split and Slobodna Dalmacija Split due to sponsorship reasons.
- ↑ Playing under the name of Buckler Bologna due to sponsorship reasons.
- ↑ Playing under the name of Tracer Milano and Philips Milano due to sponsorship reasons.
- ↑ Playing under the name of Scavolini Pesaro due to sponsorship reasons.
- ↑ Playing under the name of Varèse Roosters due to sponsorship reasons.
References
- ↑ SPORTS PEOPLE: PRO BASKETBALL; Nuggets in Rome Meet – The New York Times (July 5, 1989) (retrieved on September 6, 2006)
