Has European Professional Basketball Caught Up To The Nba?

Contrary to conventional wisdom, American professional basketball players and Euroleague teams have been squaring off for two decades in head-to-head competition other than at the Olympics. Way back in 1987 the Milwaukee Bucks beat Tracer Milan of Italy, 123-111, in the opening game of the initial McDonald's Open, located at the Milwaukee Arena. The Bucks defeated the Soviet National Team, 127-100, in the championship game of the tournament which was supported by the NBA and FIBA.

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

Also in 1988, the Atlanta Hawks became the first NBA team to compete in the Soviet Union when they defeated the Soviet Georgia All-Stars, 85-84, in an exhibition game.

In its third year, the McDonald's Championship was shifted to Rome, Italy. There, the Denver Nuggets represented the National Basketball Association against the Spanish Champion F.C. Barcelona, the European Champion Jugoplastika Split, and Philips Milan. The Nuggets vanquished Barcelona in their tournament opener and went on to beat Jugoplastika Split 135-129 to capture the title.

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

It was 1993 which saw the first pre-season game between two NBA teams ever played in Europe, the Orlando Magic, led by 14 fourth-quarter points from Dennis Scott, vanquished the Atlanta Hawks 120-95 before a sold-out 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 preseason game in Paris, as part of the NBA Europe Games 2003, in front of a capacity crowd of 14,480. The then-World Champion Spurs won 105-93 and Spurs player Tony Parker was the recipient of a standing ovation when he won the MVP in front of his home crowd. After the aforementioned 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 big man Pau Gasol, former player for FC Barcelona, put his many skills on full display.

By: Matthew Paolini

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Matthew Paolini is a Montgomery, AL-based communications manager with Citybook.com Online Yellow Pages.