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khraiser favorited a video
(7 months ago)
I think this footage is somewhat rare. In October 1997, Bulls went to Pa...
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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
Post game quotes & notes
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PARIS, Oct.18 -- For most of the 1990's, the Chicago Bulls have been calling themselves ''world champions.''
''Now, it's official,'' Bulls guard Randy Brown said.
Official, but not necessarily emotional. As the Bulls gathered around the trophy at the Palais Omnisports de Paris tonight after their very routine 104-78 victory over Olympiakos Piraeus in the final of the McDonald's Championship, they looked about as overwhelmed as a Nobel laureate would after winning a local poetry contest.
''We didn't really have any doubt we were the best team in the world,'' Michael Jordan said.
No one had any doubt that Jordan was the best player in the world, either, and over the last two nights in this six-team international event that advertises itself as a world club championship, he merely underlined the obvious.
"I think hopefully the fans were pretty pleased despite the little time I was on the basketball court," said Jordan, who played 29 minutes.
On Friday, Jordan scored a game-high 28 points when his supporting cast was abysmal in a surprisingly close 89-82 victory over the French champion PSG-Racing. Tonight, he scored a game-high 27 points, many of them with great panache, against the European and Greek champion Olympiakos when his supporting cast was playing at a far superior level.
''I think the Bulls were much better prepared and concentrated for this game,'' Olympiakos Coach Dussan Ivkovic said.
Jordan's finest move came with just more than four minutes left in the first half when he gave the locals what they came to see as he skirted the baseline, swooped under the basket and stalled out in mid-air to score and draw the foul.
"I think a lot of people in the stands were looking for something unique," said Jordan, who is shown in polls to be the most popular athlete in France.
"It just happened to go in, and I was pretty amazed to get the shot up," he added.
Dozens of banners and hand-made pennants waved from the stands. "Be Legendary MJ," read one. "His Airness Came on Earth to Bless Us," went another. "Give Us a Show Michael - Germany Loves the Bulls," yet another.
Several times Jordan said he put a "little extra mustard on top of the hot dog" to please the fans.
"I think I could sense the competition in their eyes at a challenge," Jordan said. "A couple of times, I gave a head and shoulder fake, and I felt like they were anticipating the worst.
"If they were dreaming of playing Michael Jordan all alone, this was their opportunity. This is not television, they couldn't change the channel.
"I gave one player a fake, and I thought he lost his shoes. He thought it was funny. He laughed, so I laughed too."
Michael Hawkins, who played briefly with the Celtics, directed Olympiakos' offense, often penetrating the Bulls defense.
At times, the Greek team was their equal, thanks to Arturas Karnisovas, who had 19 points, and center Dragan Tarlac, once a Bulls draft pick, who scored 14 points with a game-high 11 rebounds despite inspired opposition from Luc Longley and Bill Wennington.
They were the necessary character actors in games that were written for Jordan. His reported $33 million salary is probably more than the combined budgets of the two European clubs opposing him.
On Friday, the Bulls shot 42 percent from the field. Tonight, they shot 52 percent. On Friday, they were outrebounded; tonight, they won the battle of the boards, 49-36, and outscored Olympiakos in every quarter. About the only elements that remained mediocre were their 3-point shooting and Toni Kukoc, who bore scant resemblance to the versatile, cocksure golden boy who once dominated European basketball. He scored a total of 5 points in two games on 2-of-15 shooting from the field, in part because he is recovering more slowly than expected from a foot injury.
''We had a game a little more befitting of the Bulls and the tradition we've had,'' said Chicago Coach Phil Jackson, who arrived here without the injured Scottie Pippen and the ill Dennis Rodman.
But Jackson still had Jordan. And at the end of what he admitted was probably his last international game -- future barnstorming tours excepted -- Jordan was given the most valuable player award, named for the former Croatian star Drazen Petrovic, who played for the Nets and was killed in an automobile accident in 1993.
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