The Midas touch of Melbourne coach Alan Westover remained intact but only after the Tigers held out a gutsy Cairns Taipans 95-87 to book an NBL grand final showdown with Brisbane.

Westover extended his unbeaten finals record to 7-0 by sweeping Cairns and guiding the defending champions into the season-deciding series.

Incredibly Westover has not lost a finals match since stepping into the big shoes of retired Tigers mentor Lindsay Gaze after the 2005 season.

Not that Westover had everything his own way.

Despite Melbourne at one stage leading by 23, Westover was made to sweat for the win when Cairns - buoyed on by a sell-out crowd of more than 5,300 - cut the deficit to 10 twice in the fourth quarter.

Desperate shooting limited the damage to just single figures but it was too little too late for the Taipans.

Chris Anstey top scored with 16 points for the Tigers, while Darnell Mee claimed a game-high 23 for the Taipans.

Melbourne's late scare was hardly the nerve settler the Tigers needed before the best-of-five grand final series begins in Brisbane on Friday night.

All the hype in NBL circles this week has centred around Brisbane's remarkable run to their first grand final series since 1990 with 20 straight victories.

The loss ended an impressive run by the never-say-die Taipans which upset the Wildcats in Perth last week to win through to its second straight semi-final series.

A sea of orange greeted the Tigers as rabid Taipans fans packed the venue in the home team's unmistakable colours, but Cairns coach Alan Black was seeing red early when the hosts initially had no answer to the defending champions.

The alarm bells were ringing for Cairns when Melbourne dumped in the first eight points and by the opening break led 33-16 after Nathan Crosswell (10 points) ensured the Tigers' bench arsenal fired once again.

It only got worse for the toothless Taipans as a merciless Melbourne surged to a 66-45 halftime buffer thanks to eight point second terms from Chris Anstey and Stephen Hoare.

Cairns kept plugging away and outscored Melbourne 17-14 in the third to reduce the deficit to 80-62 by the final break to at least give themselves a sniff.

For Melbourne, Anstey had 16 points and nine rebounds while Rashad Tucker (15pts, 12 rebounds), Daryl Corletto (15pts) and Stephen Hoare (15pts, eight rebounds) also impressed.

For Cairns, guard Darnell Mee had a game high 23 points and seven assists while fellow veteran Martin Cattalini (17pts, 12 rebounds) and livewire guard Aaron Grabau (14pts) were the only other Taipans to reach double figures.

Despite the late scare, Westover was confident his team would overcome the Taipans fightback.

"I was confident but you start to get a bit nervous. But we seemed to click into another gear at that stage," he said.

"We seemed to lose the plot offensively towards the end of the third and start of the fourth quarter but the defence was pretty solid throughout.

"We steadied, made some big plays when they cut it 10."To win a championship you've got to show you can beat good teams on the road so we thought if we could get this one here you can't have a better preparation."

Meanwhile, Black said he would again reassess his roster so his side could break through "to the next level" in the NBL finals.

"They (Melbourne) have got some guys in crunch time get it done - we need to look at getting some guys like that in our group," he said.

"The crowd was sensational even when we more than 20 points down but unfortunately we couldn't have a real stab at it."

Asked about his championship tip, Black - whose son Stephen plays for Brisbane - gave a predictable answer.

"If I didn't tip the Bullets I would be in all sorts of trouble," he laughed.

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