The Tigers and Sixers completed their season in Adelaide on Sunday with the Sixers winning their “dead rubber” match 99-94 at Adelaide Arena.

The two sides reduced the minutes for key players and used less of their regular sets but still produced a competitive encounter with the Tigers coming back from 21 points down to get within two points in the final minutes.

But turnovers at the wrong time allowed the Sixers to score the win and show why they have home-court advantage for the best-of-three series with game one at Adelaide Arena on Thursday at 7.30pm (Melbourne time).

Game two will be the first NBL finals game played in Melbourne in five seasons with Hisense Arena to host the match on Sunday at 1pm.

If needed, the clubs will return to Adelaide Arena for game two on Tuesday week at 7.30pm.

Minor premiers Perth Wildcats will play Wollongong Hawks in the other semi-finals series with the games on Friday night, Sunday and, if needed, Tuesday week.

Tigers coach Chris Anstey said his players made the most of more balanced minutes and all had a chance to build confidence while Nate Tomlinson (corked thigh) and Mark Worthington (cut eye) would both be fit for game one.

Import guard Mustapha Farrakhan played his first game in several weeks after struggling with knee tendinitis, scoring 13 points and playing 25 minutes.

''Nate could have returned if we needed him and Wortho had a nick to his eye, which bled a lot but won’t need much treatment,'' Anstey said.

''You could tell Mustapha hadn’t played uninhibited for a while and he didn’t have his rhythm early but got better as he went on.''

But Anstey wouldn’t be drawn on what role Farrakhan would play in the finals with the guard’s minutes shortened during the team’s most recent winning streak.

''We don’t go into matches with predetermined minutes,'' Anstey said. ''We’ve got an idea how we will use him but we decide minutes on how the game is going.''

The referees called Sunday’s game tightly with Lucas Walker and Scott Morrison both fouling out for the Tigers so Anstey said he would speak with NBL referees boss Mal Cooper this week to find out whether the same hard line would be followed in the semi-finals.

Anstey also wanted confirmation on how unsportsmanlike fouls will be assessed, with the coach visibly disagreeing with an unsportsmanlike foul called on Walker in the third quarter.

Sixers captain and London Olympian Adam Gibson missed Sunday’s game after tearing the planta fasciitis in his left foot but told Channel 10 he was a certain starter for game one.

''I snapped it against Perth, I don’t think I can do any more damage to it now,'' Gibson said.

''It’s just a matter of managing the pain. I ran around today and did some shooting - I’ll be right to play.''

Tickets for the Tigers’ home semi-final at Hisense Arena on Sunday will be available to the general public from Ticketek on Tuesday while Channel 10 has announced it will show all NBL finals matches on either 10 or One with games one and two live.

Adelaide 36ers 99 (D Johnson 25, L Schenscher 18, G Ervin 16) d Melbourne Tigers 94 (S Morrison 15, M Farrakhan 13, C Goulding 12) at Adelaide Arena on Sunday.