Defending champions Brisbane Bullets kicked in the door to the NBL top two, beating the second-placed Melbourne Tigers by 20 points to close to within one win of them.

Bullets star Ebi Ere was electrifying again for his side, scoring a game-high 37 points to steer his side to a 112-92 win.

With four matches remaining for both sides, the Tigers (19-7) and the third-placed Bullets (18-8) are now set to take their battle for second place down to the wire.

The top two sides at the end of the regular season have the luxury of a bye through to the best-of-three semi-final series.

But third place faces a sudden-death showdown with one of the sides placed fifth to eighth to move through to the playoffs.

The Tigers and Bullets matched motors for most of the match, swapping the lead for most of the second quarter before Brisbane pushed out to a 10-point lead narrowed to one by three-quarter time.

But the Bullets lifted markedly in the final term led by Ere, who only returned from a mercy dash to the United States for the birth of his child, and outscored the Tigers 35-16.

Ere was aided by a huge final quarter by guard CJ Bruton, who scored 13 of his 20 points in the term, and big four-quarter contributions from Dusty Rychart and Kiwi centre Chris Bradshaw.

Rychart finished with 19 points and 16 rebounds, while Bradshaw provided important energy in the third term and scored 12 points for the match.

Tigers import Sean Lampley scored a team-high 22 points, while centre Chris Anstey had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Ere's wife Tia gave birth to daughter Jordan last week, and Bullets coach Joey Wright paid tribute to him as well as Bruton and Rychart, who both carried injuries into the match.

"We're grateful Ebi made it back. We preach all the time at the Bullets it's family first and we welcome him going over to the States and supporting his family, and he came home tonight and got it done," Wright said.

"CJ and Dusty probably wouldn't have played if it was any other game because they're carrying some big-time injuries but those guys just stepped in.

"To have these guys step in and Ebi step off the plane says a lot about these guys' character.

"If you play with a lot of heart, you can overcome a lot of things."

The Tigers are now in the strange position of sitting second, but failing to beat top-placed Sydney or Brisbane during the regular season.

Coach Al Westover said he was disappointed with his side, particularly in their fourth quarter fadeout, but warned there was still a lot of basketball to be played before the finals start late next month.

"Probably everybody's going to write us off now because we haven't beaten Sydney or Brisbane - maybe that will light a fire in us and we'll have a point to prove," Westover said.

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