Basketball: Belinelli thanks knockers after winning NBA

28-year-old first Italian to triumph in US league

(ANSA) - Rome, June 16 - Marco Belinelli has thanked his knockers after becoming the first Italian ever to win the NBA title. Shooting guard Belinelli was part of the San Antonio Spurs team that clinched the NBA title on Sunday, when they beat the Miami Heat 104-87, to claim a 4-1 victory in the best-of-seven final series. "It's truly incredible," said Belinelli, a 28-year-old from the town of San Giovanni in Persiceto near Bologna.

"I'm an NBA champion. No one would ever have said it was possible. "This success is for my family and all those who believed in me. "But I also want to dedicate it to all those who have criticised me over the years, those who said I'd never develop in this league. "They gave me incredible motivation and now I'm NBA champion". Belinelli has had plenty of up and downs in the NBA since he left Fortitudo Bologna in 2007 after being drafted by the Oakland-based Golden State Warriors and he was traded four times.