The Melbourne Tigers unfurled their NBL premiership pennant and unleashed the second generation of the McDonald family as they cruised to a 113-102 victory over the Singapore Slingers at the State Netball and Hockey Centre.

Rashad Tucker and Chris Anstey top-scored with 24 points apiece for the Tigers, while Stephen Hoare hit all seven of his field goal attempts in a 17-point haul.

And with the game in the bag late in the final term, Tigers coach Al Westover took the opportunity to give Derrick McDonald his NBL debut, playing alongside his father Darryl, a veteran of 414 games.

McDonald junior pulled down a couple of rebounds and just failed to complete an alley-oop play set up by his father which would have brought the house down.

"I think it might be the first father and son that have played together in an NBL game," said Westover.

"I wanted to give him the opportunity since we had the margin there.

"And it would have been nice if we could have run a play for them together, but it didn't eventuate."

Westover paid tribute to Tucker, who has taken on a bigger load while Dave Thomas has been sidelined with an abductor strain.

"Without DT there, Rashad has looked at it as a challenge and really stepped up, thinking we might need some more scoring and rebounding," said Westover.

"He seems to be playing with the same confidence and flow as at the beginning of last year.

"What he gives us, no-one else on the team can really give us - speed and athleticism, the drive to the basket and he's a really great offensive rebounder."

Tucker had 12 of the Tigers' 29 points in the opening quarter and played a key role throughout the match.

Melbourne broke the game open with a 15-0 run in the second quarter.

The home side led by as many as 22 points during the third term.

But the Slingers, who were playing their third match in six days after only arriving in Melbourne late Friday, fought the game out.

"I'm really pleased with the way we're competing, and the effort they're putting in and the attitude to what they're doing," said Slingers coach Gordie McLeod.

"The Tigers aren't the champions by luck or anything like that.

"They've had a good organisation, they've had a really good nucleus of players together for a long time.

"They play really well as a team and they use their strengths very well and for us, we can see that's where we want to head to."

The Tigers improved their win-loss record to 3-1 while the Slingers slipped to 2-4 in their debut season.

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