1997 McDonald's Championship explained

1997 McDonald's Championship
League:	McDonald's Championship
Sport:	Basketball
Duration:	16–18 October
Top Scorer:	Michael Jordan
Finals Champ:	Chicago Bulls
Finals Runner-Up:	Olympiacos
Finals Mvp:	Michael Jordan
Seasonslistnames:	McDonald's Championship
Prevseason Link:	1995 McDonald's Championship
Prevseason Year:	1995 McDonald's Championship
Nextseason Year:	1999 McDonald's Championship
Nextseason Link:	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.

The tournament was mentioned in an early episode of the documentary miniseries, The Last Dance.