Success at the Magic came instantly, as Goorjian won the first of his six championships, and the first of his six Lindsay Gaze Coach of the Year awards, in 1992. The 1992 Grand Final series against the Lindsay Gaze coached Melbourne Tigers saw the Magic emerge with a 2–1 series win. Three consecutive semi-final losses were followed by a second championship, and another Coach of the Year award, in 1996 when they again defeated the Tigers in a series where all three games were played at the league's then largest venue, the 15,300 capacity National Tennis Centre which was home to both clubs, and drew the still standing (as of 2016–17) record aggregate Grand Final attendance of 43,605 (average 14,535) fans. Two Grand Final losses were to follow in 1997 (Tigers) and in 1998 to the Adelaide 36ers who had a rookie coach in Australian basketball legend Phil Smyth, and who surprisingly to that point had only ever recorded one win over the Magic since 1992.