Melbourne United's Dean Demopoulos is on the cusp of becoming the first rookie coach in 25 years to guide his side to the NBL minor premiership, following Thursday night's 80-73 defeat of the Illawarra Hawks in Wollongong.
Not since Murray Arnold steered the Perth Wildcats to top spot in 1991 has a first-year coach claimed the minor premiership.
Philadelphia-born Demopoulos, a former college coach and NBA assistant coach, signed with a club that missed the playoffs last year and was entrusted with the task of shaping a host of well credentialled off-season recruits into a cohesive and efficient playing group.
He has lived up to his end of the bargain thus far, as Melbourne's win over the Hawks improved their record to 18-8 ahead of next weekend's pair of season-ending clashes with reigning champions New Zealand.
Second-placed Perth (16-9) are the only remaining threat to Melbourne's minor premiership aspirations.
Demopoulos preferred to discuss his side rather than himself after beating the Hawks.
"I got a bunch of really special guys on this team," the 61-year-old said.
"Winning obviously helps, but even the losing is a little easier to take when you like being with people you spend so much time with."
Melbourne are the NBL's only team with a winning record on the road (7-6).
On Thursday night they completely shut down the competition's most prolific offensive team, keeping Illawarra far below the usual 98.5 points they average on their home court.
"Where that takes us remains to be seen, but this team is in the process of trying to squeeze the most of every moment they have together, and it's my job to make sure they have the best chance of doing it," Demopoulos said.
"We'll try and keep an even keel and see where this all takes us. Right now it's been a hell of a ride."
The Hawks (15-11) kept hold of third spot but have lost three of their past four games.
Illawarra's leading scorer Kirk Penney has missed three of those matches with a hamstring injury and is no certainty to return for this Saturday night's crucial home meeting with Townsville.
"We're missing Kirk massively," Hawks coach Rob Beveridge said.
"It's not only his 20 points a game but it's his leadership. When we don't have him it means that teams can pay a lot more attention to (Kevin) Lisch and (AJ) Ogilvy, which is what they've done the last few games."
Wooden spooners last season, the Hawks need one more win to be assured of a semi-finals berth.
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