The Melbourne Tigers jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, handing the Singapore Slingers a 115-82 defeat at the State Netball and Hockey Centre.

David Barlow led the Tigers with 24 points, 16 of those coming before halftime. Stephen Hoare added 16.

The Tigers were able to rest centre Chris Anstey, who is the favourite to land the NBL's most valuable player award.

Anstey has been instrumental in recent Melbourne wins, but coach Al Westover was able to limit him to just 25 minutes of court time. Anstey still finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

Rod Grizzard led Singapore with 21 points and Hayden Allen added 14.

Melbourne punished Singapore turnovers, scoring 30 points from Slingers miscues. The Tigers' defensive effort forced 18 Singapore turnovers.

Westover was pleased that his team continued to press home the advantage after halftime.

The Tigers have played a number of games this year where a solid halftime lead has been eaten into in the second half, but they were able to continue to pile on the points.

"I'm very happy with the result," Westover said.

"We had the talent and the depth on them and they had a couple of guys down.

"It was nice to be able to rest some of the main guys. We haven't had a win like that all year. It will set us up nicely for the game on Wednesday."

Singapore coach Gordon McLeod did not hold back in assessing his team's performance.

"What disappointed me was that we had the opportunity to play a top team and we came out flat as a tack," McLeod said.

"We didn't come out with the right mindset. We struggled mentally, didn't have enough energy and fight and endeavour.

"This group has fought hard all season and to play like that was disappointing. Tonight we only had a couple of players that can hold their heads high. We were disjointed, didn't know how to handle their pressure.

"I felt we had been getting better, but tonight we didn't come with the right energy and effort."

The Tigers jumped out to an early lead behind Barlow, who scored Melbourne's opening eight points, and led by 14 points at the end of the first quarter.

Melbourne stepped on the accelerator in the second term, extending the lead to 56-35 at halftime.

The Tigers hit at 59 per cent from the field in the first half and held the Slingers to just 38 per cent shooting.

The third quarter was more of the same, with Melbourne extending their advantage to 28 points at three-quarter time.

The Tigers' domination was best summed up in the final three seconds of the quarter.

Taking the ball out of bounds under the Slingers basket, two long passes saw Darryl McDonald streak to the basket for an uncontested lay up.

The lead stretched to 37 in the final quarter and the Tigers were able to coast home.

Melbourne improved to 18-6 and consolidated second place on the NBL ladder, while the Slingers remain mired in second last position with five wins from 27 games.

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