Marcus Timmons and Lanard Copeland enjoyed a happy return to their old home court as the Adelaide 36ers defeated the Melbourne Tigers 114-96.

Timmons scored a game-high 27 points and Copeland got hot in the second quarter as the 36ers stunned Melbourne.

Timmons connected on 11-of-17 shots including five from beyond the three-point arc.

Timmons and Copeland rate among the Tigers' all-time greats and helped make Melbourne one of the NBL's powerhouse teams during the 1990s.

Brett Maher added 23 points and Willie Farley 20 as Adelaide continued its late season push for a finals berth.

Rashad Tucker was best for the Tigers with 22 points and Chris Anstey and Nathan Crosswell each added 15.

Melbourne raced to an early nine-point lead but the 36ers came back to take control in the second quarter.

With Adelaide forcing the Tigers into 22 turnovers they were able to score easy baskets and were never threatened after halftime.

The Tigers turned the ball over with monotonous regularity and the 36ers capitalised with 32 of their points coming from turnovers.

Adelaide shot the ball well from outside, making 16-of-34 three-pointers as Melbourne could not stop their hot shooters.

Melbourne has now lost three of its last five games and faces a tough challenge to hang on to a top-two berth.

Adelaide improved its record to 10-14 and moves ahead of the Wollongong Hawks into eighth place on the NBL ladder.

Adelaide coach Phil Smyth was pleased to get a tough road win but refused to get carried away.

"We still have a long way to go," Smyth said.

"Hopefully we can continue with that type of form. We're happy we won and I thought we played well. We've been able to get some confidence and momentum."

Melbourne co-captain Darryl McDonald said his team is in a slump and needs to turn its form around quickly.

"We are struggling but things can be fixed," McDonald said.

"We have to start taking better care of the ball and defensively we are not as tough as we were last season."

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