1997 McDonald's Championship

1997 McDonald's Championship
League	McDonald's Championship
Sport	Basketball
Duration	16–18 October
Top scorer	Michael Jordan
Finals champions	Chicago Bulls
Runners-up	Olympiacos
Finals MVP	Michael Jordan
McDonald's Championship seasons
← 1995 McDonald's Championship 1999 McDonald's Championship →

The 1997 McDonald's Championship took place at Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France.

Summary

The teams that took part in the 8th edition of the tournament were the Chicago Bulls, Paris Basket Racing (France), Olympiacos Piraeus (Greece), Atenas de Cordoba (Argentina), Benetton Treviso (Italy) and FC Barcelona Banca Catalana (Spain). The 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996 & 1997 NBA champions, the Chicago Bulls won it beating Olympiacos in the final at the Palais Omnisport de Paris-Bercy, in Paris.
Surprisingly, both the Italian and Spanish champions, traditional European powerhouses Benetton and FC Barcelona, lost their preliminary stage games and were forced to battle for 5th place. The Chicago Bulls instead led by Michael Jordan, and without Scottie Pippen managed to win their semifinal game against the hosts PSG Racing coached by Božidar Maljković, by 89-82. In the final game Chicago Bulls faced European champions Olympiacos Piraeus. The Greek side coached by legendary Serbian coach Dušan Ivković proved stronger than PSG Racing, but the Bulls pulled the best of their abilities and cruised to an easy 104-78 win.

Participants

Continent Teams Clubs Europe 4 FC Barcelona Banca Catalana PSG Racing Olympiacos Benetton Treviso North America 1 Chicago Bulls South America 1 Atenas

Bracket

	Preliminary round				Semi-finals				Finals
	October 16
	PSG Racing	97
					October 17
	FCB Banca Catalana	84
					Chicago Bulls	89
					PSG Racing	82
									October 18
									Chicago Bulls	104
	October 16
									Olympiacos	78
	Atenas	87
					October 17
	Benetton Treviso	78
					Olympiacos	89
					Atenas	86			Third place
									October 18
									PSG Racing	78
									Atenas	88

	Fifth place
	October 18
	FCB Banca Catalana	103
	Benetton Treviso	106

Final

October 18 (CET)

Chicago Bulls	104–78	Olympiacos
Scoring by quarter: 30-20, 24-23, 21-17, 29-18
Pts: Michael Jordan 27		Pts: Artūras Karnišovas 19

Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, Paris

• Chicago Bulls
  • Michael Jordan 27, Randy Brown 12, Steve Kerr 10, Luc Longley 9, Bill Wennington 8, Toni Kukoč 5, Boris Gorenc 7, Jason Caffey 6, Ron Harper 6, Jud Buechler 6, Scott Burrell 4, Joe Kleine 2, Keith Booth 2, Dante Calabria, Rusty LaRue. Coach: Phil Jackson
• Olympiacos
  • Artūras Karnišovas 19, Franko Nakić 16, Dragan Tarlać 14, Michael Hawkins 12, Dimitris Karaplis 6, Johnny Rogers 4, Milan Tomić 3, Aleksey Savrasenko 2, Nikos Michalos 2, Dušan Vukčević, Efthimis Bakatsias, Anatoly Zourpenko, Nikos Pettas. Coach: Dušan Ivković

Final standings

	Club	Record
	Chicago Bulls	2-0
	Olympiacos	1-1
	Atenas	2-1
4.	PSG Racing	1-2
5.	Benetton Treviso	1-1
6.	FC Barcelona Banca Catalana	0-2

1997 McDonald's Champions
Chicago Bulls

Sources

• 1997 edition

External links

• raisport.rai.it
• NBA International Pre-Season and Regular-Season Games
• List of champions at a-d-c

This page was last edited on 27 August 2023, at 17:27