BELGRADE (Serbia) - Simone Fontecchio was outstanding in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament for the Italians in the Serbian capital city in all three games the 'Azzurri' played here.  

Nicolo Manion, the playmaker who plays professionally for the Gold State Warriors in the NBA, also showed up and put together some notable performances here, too. Captian Nicolo Melli was a leader on and off the court whose impact went beyond  only 10 total points in the tournament.  

With all due respect to everybody mentioned and the rest of the Italian team and coaching staff that surpassed expectations to get Italy back into the Olympics for the first time in 17 years, Polonara was the man. 

In film terms, if we wanted to connect among the title, he was also the main actor and director of everything that culminated last night in the famous Belgrade cathedral of basketball, the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall. It shares similarities with the 2003 Gary Gray movie "The Italian Job" in that they took what they wanted in the end. In this case it was not gold, but rather it was the chance to chase gold in Japan.

"The day after, the joy is even better", Polonara said after celebration night. "Today, we realized what we achieved together. It was an incredible result for us."

A former Baskonia player who will play for Fenerbahce next season, Polonara had a spectacular shooting performance behind the three-point line, hitting 75 percent of it (4-from-4 in the first half, 6-from-8 in the end) in what was first-class dance on the floor. But it wasn't just shooting. Oh no. 

The way he controlled things under the rim was exceptional. He cleaned his team glass nine times while doing damage on the Serbians' side, too (3 offensive rebounds). Two assists and two steals we will put in the "extras" category. 

He also did some things that can't be found in the stats, like reading the game and rival's plays and sets, both defensively and offensively. Of all the match-ups he had during the Final clash - from Nemanja Bjelica at first, to Boban Marjnovic to the others tasked with defending and containing  him -  he won. We also can't forget to mention his ability to recognize the moments and momentum of the game and the way he played maestro to control the pace throughout the important contest.

"This is important for Italian basketball because we secured Olympics after 17 years," Polonara said. "It was a long, long time. We deserve it 100 percent."

Polonara concluded this happy-ending tourney with some extraordinary numbers: 17.3 points per game, 9.3 rebounds, and a superb 69.2 field goal percentage across an average of 29.2 minutes per game.

That number and that way of playing secured him a TISSOT MVP award for the whole tournament. But, he didn't care because he was on the path to team success.

"Honestly, I don't care about that award. Only I care is going to Tokyo.", Polonara told FIBA in the post-game mixed zone. He repeated that sentiment the morning after: "When you play for your country, that's not important (winning MVP). For me, its not. Only what matters is that we won as a team."

So, Tokyo is a new mission for Polonara's well-juiced team.

"We need to go in every game like we are going to war," Polonara finished. "We know that only two teams go to the quarterfinals, so we'll just play every game like it's our last."

FIBA