Townsville Crocodiles coach Shawn Dennis has masterminded Melbourne United's first home defeat and then poured cold water on their position as the hot favourites for the NBL championship.
United rank second last in offensive rebounding and play a containment-style defence which forces few errors, in clear contrast to the possession-dominant game that has delivered Perth and New Zealand the past six NBL titles.
Dennis said he thinks it would be difficult for any team to win the championship playing that style of game.
"If you can control the possession game it doesn't matter how good you are," he said.
"I could probably beat Michael Jordan in a game of one-on-one if he only had five shots and I had 30 shots.
"He'd make all five I'm sure ... but I've only got to make 6-of-30 to win.
"You've got to rebound, it's crucial, and Melbourne's a scary team to rebound against because they do run the ball so well. That's why it was imperative that we were patient."
The last-placed Crocs secured an 82-78 upset at Hisense Arena on Friday after their composed play built a 22-point lead in the shadows of three-quarter-time.
Point guard Mitch Norton (15 points) was outstanding in his 100th NBL game, his experience leading the Australian junior national team invaluable in guiding Dennis' gameplan.
Townsville's fairytale was almost ruined in the final quarter as Melbourne charged home, sparked by the energy of reserve guard Iggy Hadziomerovic and the shooting of Daniel Kickert (17 points, 7 rebounds) and Stephen Holt (15 points, 8 assists).
A pair of free throws from Chris Goulding (22 points) closed the margin to two points with seven seconds remaining, but Croc Clint Steindl (13 points) held his nerve from the charity stripe to put the Crocs home.
Melbourne coach Dean Demopoulos was left ruing his team's inability to generate the pace that has been their trademark, pointing to the same weakness Dennis had identified.
"It's hard to run (taking the ball) out of the net, the games not built that way, so we need to get stops and we need to rebound the ball when they do miss," he said.
Demopoulos did had some good news for Melbourne fans with former NBA import Hakim Warrick set to return from injury in Sunday's blockbuster clash with the New Zealand Breakers in Auckland.
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