When Philadelphia took down defending NBA champions Miami en route to a hot start to the season, the only folk not surprised should've been Australians.
Australian basketball fans know more than most the giant-killing abilities instilled by the newly-installed 76ers head coach Brett Brown, who took charge of the Boomers for the past four years.
Derided in pre-season as having the NBA's worst roster, the 76ers won their first three games to give hope of a playoffs spot.
Brown, who also had stints as assistant coach at NBA heavyweights San Antonio, says his time in control of the Boomers taught him plenty about being the underdog - an intrinsically Australian trait.
"There are many lessons I would've learned while coaching the Australian team that have helped me as I begin this rebuild with the 76ers," Brown told AAP on Friday.
"From a physical standpoint, from a chemistry standpoint to a toughness standpoint. There are similarities to what we did with the Australian team.
"And those are the things I've been able to reapply to our program."
Brown's last tournament in charge of the Boomers was the 2012 London Olympics, where Australia won three games including a two-point win over eventual bronze-medalists Russia.
"We all admit when we went into London that we weren't going to beat anybody because we had more talent," Brown explained.
"We understood that for us to be at our very best we were going to have to have a fitness base that was a career best for the individual players.
"We were going to have to have a toughness and a chemistry that was a difference maker, when you look at other nations.
"I think that as you reapply that here to the 76er program."
Truth be told, even Brown didn't expect such big results from his team to start the year.
But using a fast-paced game, modelled on how his Boomers squads were built around light-footed point guard Patty Mills, the success came.
"The start of the year for us was very surprising," he said.
"You can catch people off guard.
"It is the start of a very long year and we started the season surprising a lot of people including ourselves.
"Our situation has been forecasted and well documented for a while. We're in a rebuild mode.
"...But we're the number one team in the NBA in pace. I'm proud of that.
"With that style there are problems that come with it. It's not all positive. But it's a way for us to beat other teams."
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