The Melbourne Tigers will need to stop first-placed Brisbane Bullets to claim their second straight Philips NBL Championship, but Tigers centre Chris Anstey wouldn't have it any other way.

Last year's Grand Final and NBL season Most Valuable Player said he looks forward to the challenge of inflicting Brisbane's first loss in 20 starts.

"If you're going to win a championship then there's no better team to do it against than the best in the league," Anstey said, pointing to the similarities in the 2006 and 2007 finals series.

"Sydney had won three in a row and we beat them last year, and Brisbane's been on a phenomenal run this year, so I think we're playing the other best team in the league," he said.

Despite the Bullets' current NBL-record 20-game winning streak and 28-5 record to top the NBL ladder, Anstey refused to claim underdog status for the 25-8 Tigers.

The last time these teams met in Melbourne in Round 8, the Tigers took the 111-102 win, proof, Anstey says, that the final series won't go all Brisbane's way.

"I don't know if we're underdogs. They've won a lot but we beat them last time we played them…we just haven't played them in a long time," he said.

"I just think it's going to be a close series, we play two very different styles of basketball, so we could see some interesting results."

One similarity between the Bullets and Tigers is their roster depth, something Anstey says will make this finals series a closely contested one.

"We've spoken about our depth all year … we're never quite sure who's going to be the guy to have a big game, and that's the beauty of this team," he said.

"The interesting thing is I think that's the same with Brisbane now, so it's exciting, it's a whole new series against a different type of team than last year."

The Philips Championship Grand Final will tip-off in Brisbane on Friday 2 March at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in Boondall at 6:40pm.