Achille Polonara warns the Serbs, “We will try to have fun.”

Achille Polonara with his head held high

Achille Polonara goes head-to-head against Serbia.

“It’s been a long and intense summer,” he said, “and now we are in the crucial phase of the tournament. We haven’t worked that hard to be tourists in Berlin, even though we will be facing one of the three strongest teams around. Even against Antetokounmpo’s Greece they were giving us away and instead in the final we were still there playing it. Needless to hide the fact that we will certainly not be favorites and it certainly won’t be a cakewalk. We have faced them several times before and we know their value under the basket and on the perimeter. We will try to have fun playing with the intention of undermining their certainties along the 40 minutes. It’s a European round of 16, so it could only be a tough contest. We are ready.”