By October 1987, the frosty dynamic that had defined US-Soviet relations for over 40 years may have been starting to thaw, but make no mistake, the tensions, suspicions and confusion of the Cold War continued to linger.
The fall of the Berlin Wall — another event with a little known Bucks connection of its own — and the dissolution of the Soviet states would follow in the years to come, but first in the retelling of the final years of the Cold War, there was the 1987 McDonald’s Championship held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The McDonald’s Championship was an exhibition event which replaced the FIBA Intercontinental Cup, and in its first staging, the Milwaukee Bucks became the first NBA team to host what was on that occasion a three-team competition.