petak, 20.07.2007.
PARIS, OCTOBER 1997: Michael Jordan at McDonald's Open Final...
JORDAN @ McDONALDS OPEN...
I think this footage is somewhat rare. In October 1997, Bulls went to Paris to compete in McDonald's Open which featured some of the best clubs from all over the world. The other teams competing were Paris St Germain, the champions of France, Olympiakos of Greece, the European champions, Atenas de Cordoba, the South American champions, Barcelona and Benetton, champions of Spain and Italy, respectively.
Jordan playing in Europe was a gigantic event. More than one thousand journalists came from all over the world to witness the tournament. France-Noir, a daily French newspaper, wrote "Michael Jordan is in Paris. That's better than the Pope. It's God in person."
Pippen was injured and Rodman was ill, thus they were absent. In the semifinals Bulls beat Paris St. Germain 89-82 in a quite close game. Kukoc was 0-7, Harper 1-9, Kerr 2-7. Jordan finished with 28pts on 11/23 with 6 assists. Longley and Scott Burrell had also good performances.
On the other semifinal matchup Olympiakos beat Atenas de Cordoba in the final possession. So the Bulls and Olympiakos met in the finals. This time Bulls were more focused and since it was a 20-25 point blowout early in the fourth quarter Jordan only played for 29 minutes and finished with a game-high 27 points. (if anyone's interested I have the boxscores for both Bulls games. )
The camerawork was great in this game. The commentary wasn't English.
Here are the complete results in the tournament. (Bulls entered from the semifinals).
10/16/97
Atenas de Cordoba 87 -- Benetton Treviso 78
PSG Racing 97 -- FC Barcelona 84
10/17/97 (semifinals)
Olympiakos 89 - Atenas de Cordoba 86
Chicago Bulls 89 -- PSG Racing 82
10/18/97 (final and classification)
Benetton Treviso 106 -- FC Barcelona 103
Atenas de Cordoba 88 -- PSG Racing 78
Chicago Bulls 104 -- Olympiakos 78
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