Has European Professional Basketball Caught Up To The Nba?

2007-07-03 Word Count: 418 Category: Games

Contrary to popular belief, U.S. pro basketball squads and European teams have been actively competing for two decades in direct competition other than at the Olympics. Back in 1987 the Milwaukee Bucks defeated Tracer Milan of Italy, 123-111, in the opening game of the first McDonald's Open, held at the Milwaukee Arena. The Bucks beat the Soviet National Team, 127-100, in the championship game of the tournament sponsored by the NBA and FIBA.

The next year, in the inaugural McDonald's Championship to be held in Europe, the Boston Celtics defeated Real Madrid 111-96 at the Palacio de Deportes in Madrid, Spain.

Also in 1988, the Atlanta Hawks became the first NBA team to play in the Soviet Union when they defeated the Soviet Georgia All-Stars, 85-84, in a pre-season game.

By the third year, the McDonald's Championship moved to Rome, Italy. There, the Denver Nuggets represented American professional basketball against the Spanish Champion F.C. Barcelona, the European Champion Jugoplastika Split, and Philips Milan. The Nuggets beat Barcelona in their tournament opener and went on to beat Jugoplastika Split 135-129 to earn the title.

In 1991 the 'city of lights' was the site for McDonald's Championship. The Los Angeles Lakers traveled to Paris, France to compete against the host team CSP Limoges, Joventut Badalona and Slobodna Dalmacija Split of the former Yugoslavia. With Magic Johnson at the helm, the Lakers thumped CSP Limoges before narrowly defeating Joventut Badalona 116-114 to win the title.

It was 1993 which saw the first pre-season game between two NBA teams ever played in Europe, the Orlando Magic, behind 14 fourth-quarter points from Dennis Scott, defeated the Atlanta Hawks 120-95 before a capacity crowd of 9,483 at Wembley Arena in the opening of the two-game NBA London Games series.

In 2003, the San Antonio Spurs and the Memphis Grizzlies played an NBA exhibition game in Paris, as part of the NBA Europe Games 2003, in front of a overflowing crowd of 14,480. The NBA Champion Spurs won 105-93 and French guard Tony Parker received a standing ovation when he won the MVP in front of his home crowd. After the noted game, the Memphis Grizzlies flew to Barcelona where they played local team FC Barcelona on October 10. Memphis prevailed in the game 91-80 and Spanish native Pau Gasol, former player for FC Barcelona, showed that he truly belonged to Memphis.

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