Another medal swells the chest of Marco Belinelli, the golden boy of Italian basketball, awarded as MVP of the regular season. At 38 he is the oldest ever but it seems like an oxymoron for this timeless evergreen who hit the first Serie A parquet on 4 April 2002, just sixteen years old, wearing the Virtus shirt against Udine. Three points in 5 minutes (three-pointers, needless to say) for the same Black Vs that 22 years later will try to guide, tonight in Casale Monferrato (8.45 pm), towards a semi-final already in the air given the 2-0 in the series.
successes
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And he will do it once more as number 1, after having lined up old and new generations, following 30 days prepared with 13.9 points on average, shooting 52.6% from two, 41.2% from three and 90.9% from free. Enough to collect the “Dino Meneghin Trophy”, as it is now called, emblem of a basketball elite to which Beli now rightfully belongs. Furthermore, the history of his exploits is well known. Virtus nursery and passage to the other side of Bologna, Fortitudo with which he reaps his first successes. Scudetto and Italian Super Cup in 2005 then, the following year, the Japanese World Cup where he threw 25 points in the faces of LeBron and Carmelo. He considers it, in hindsight, the most important match of his life, because it opened the doors to the NBA where he landed in 2007. Thirteen seasons with unattainable peaks for an Italian. The year of grace was 2014, in San Antonio, with which he won the title (the only Italian to do so) and the three-point game in the All Star Game in New Orleans. In autumn 2020, the wedding with his Martina, the return to Virtus as a hero of two worlds and so much more to give in the V Nera by Zanetti. A scudetto, three Italian Super Cups and a Eurocup, in addition to the return to the Euroleague, the most recent successes, almost all in ticket with his friend Teodosic and now as a single man in command, undisputed leader of a Virtus with which he has extended until 2025.
