How Do European Teams Fare Against the NBA?

Contrary to conventional wisdom, American professional basketball players and European teams have been squaring off for the past 20 years in direct competition other than at the Olympics. Back in 1987 the Milwaukee Bucks trounced Tracer Milan of Italy, 123-111, in the opening game of the initial McDonald's Open, held at the Milwaukee Arena. The Bucks beat 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 first McDonald's Championship to be held in Europe, the Boston Celtics vanquished Real Madrid 111-96 at the Palacio de Deportes in Madrid, Spain.

Also in 1988, the Atlanta Hawks became the first professional American team to compete in the Soviet Union when they vanquished the Soviet Georgia All-Stars, 85-84, in a pre-season game.

In its third year, the McDonald's Championship relocated 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 taking charge, the Lakers beat CSP Limoges before narrowly defeating Joventut Badalona 116-114 to take the title.

It was 1993 which saw the first pre-season game between two American professional 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 capacity crowd of 9,483 at Wembley Arena in the opening of the two-game NBA London Games series.

On October 8, 2003, the San Antonio Spurs and the Memphis Grizzlies played an NBA pre-season game in Paris, as part of the NBA Europe Games 2003, in front of a capacity crowd of 14,480. The NBA Champion Spurs won 105-93 and Spurs player Tony Parker was the recipient of a standing ovation when he was awarded the MVP in front of his home crowd. After the noted game, the Memphis Grizzlies went to Barcelona where they played local team FC Barcelona on October 10. Memphis took the game 91-80 and Grizzlies center Pau Gasol, former player for FC Barcelona, showed that he truly belonged to Memphis.

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Matthew Paolini is a Kailua, HI-based consultant with Citybook.com Online Yellow Pages.