TEL AVIV (FIBA EuroBasket 2017) - Marco Belinelli saw a fair share of new faces when he arrived at Italy training camp for FIBA EuroBasket 2017. Now, the NBA veteran is excited that some of them have helped the team be successful in Tel Aviv.

The heart of Italy's team in Israel is quite well known in the basketball world with Belinelli, Luigi Datome, Nicolo Melli and Daniel Hackett as the core four along with recognizable faces like Andrea Cinciarini, Marco Cusin and Pietro Aradori.

But unless you follow the Italian Serie A, you might not know names such as Ariel Filoy, Paul Biligha and Christian Burns. Heck, even Belinelli, who last played in Italy in 2007, admitted to not knowing all of the players on hand.

Ariel Filloy has been one of the revelations for Italy at FIBA EuroBasket 2017

"I didn't really know about these players, maybe a little bit about Filloy," Belinelli said. "Maybe nobody thinks about those guys but for them this is the first EuroBasket, so it's not easy. But I think they have played great."

Belinelli even mentioned Filloy specifically at the post-game press conference following Italy's win over Ukraine.

"I need to say that Pietro, Ariel and a lot of other guys really help us to win games. And I think that's really important for us," Belinelli said of Filloy, a 30-year-old Argentinean-born point guard who has averaged 11.3 points in Tel Aviv in his senior national team debut.

Part of the reason for the increased scoring was the hand injury to Danilo Gallinari four weeks ago which forced him to miss the tournament.

When asked if he said to himself that he would need to do more for the team after the Gallinari injury, Belinelli said: "Maybe a little bit more, me and Gigi (Datome) and a couple other guys - just to be more aggressive."

Sure there might be a few grey hairs in his beard, but one thing has not changed in terms of the 31-year-old Belinelli - his emotion-less demeanor on the court. The San Giovanni in Persiceto-native even named his 2015 autobiography "Pokerface."

"Oh, I don't know. That’s my face. People who know me know I love basketball, and that I am a really competitive guy. I really want to win so bad. This is just my face," Belinelli offered, as a description of what he thinks about the name Pokerface.

"Maybe some people don't know me and they say maybe he doesn't care. It's just the same face if they are up by 20 or down by one or if he scores a big basket. But this is my normal face. I just try to do everything I can for this game because I really love it."

There was actually a very public show of emotion by Belinelli following Italy's win over Ukraine. San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was sitting courtside and Belinelli, who played two seasons with the Spurs and won the NBA title in 2014 with them, went over to "Pops" and gave him a big hug.

"Oh, he's great. Just to win an NBA championship with him is incredible," Belinelli said. "He really taught me a lot about basketball on the court and off the court. He's a great guy. I really love him."

Popovich also had a close relationship with Italy coach Ettore Messina, who is the assistant coach at the Spurs. Belinelli appreciates having Messina in charge.

"Messina is a great coach. I don't have anything else to say. He really wants to win. He wants the best for everybody. We are really lucky to have him on our team," Belinelli said.

As far as Italy's goals at FIBA EuroBasket 2017, the shooting ace really didn't want to give too exact of an answer.

"We have a good team, and we just want to try to do something nice," Belinelli said. "We just try to be a surprise."

Maybe a deep run in the tournament by Italy would give spectators a surprise - the Pokerface may even flash a rare smile.

FIBA