The Brisbane Bullets need to win at home on Thursday night to keep their NBL championship defence alive, after the Melbourne Tigers cruised to a runaway 116-98 win in the opening match of their semi-final series in Melbourne.

After trailing by two points with four minutes to play in the second quarter, the Tigers put on the final 10 points of the first half, then outscored Brisbane 29-16 in a third term blitz to take a 21-point lead into the final quarter.

The Bullets were never in the hunt in the last quarter, despite guard C.J Bruton firing some shots in from very long range and Mick Hill going on a mid-term scoring spree, with the gap never closer than 15 points.

Guard David Barlow scored 10 points during the third quarter onslaught, after having just four to his name at halftime, while star centre Chris Anstey was superb at the defensive end, with two blocked shots for the term helping his side take charge.

Veteran guard Darryl McDonald, in his final season, also had a big impact during the Tigers' run, with some bullet-like assists, some sharp defensive intercepts and a classy turnaround jump shot to put his side 23 points up late in the term.

It was the first time this season that Melbourne had defeated Brisbane, who also downed them in last season's grand final series.

The Tigers had a strong spread of contributors, with seven players scoring in double figures, but none of them tallying more than 17, with Sean Lampley and Barlow finishing on that score.

Anstey finished with 14 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots.

For the Bullets, star forward Ebi Ere had a shocker, making just two shots from 11 attempts to score five points.

Bruton top-scored for the Bullets with 29 points, including seven three-pointers in a valiant performance, while Dusty Rychart was a very solid contributor with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

Centre Craig Bradshaw was good early, with 11 first-half points, while he kept Anstey relatively quiet until midway through the second quarter, but Anstey's influence steadily increased while Bradshaw's faded.

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