Melbourne United feel they are timing their run perfectly to go deep into the NBL finals, with their play-in qualifier against a dangerous Tasmania outfit their first hurdle.

United are looking to advance to their third successive grand final series, but face a torrid battle after reaching the play-offs in fifth spot.

They need a win over the sixth-placed JackJumpers at John Cain Arena on Thursday night to progress to the next stage of the post-season.

Melbourne's season hit the skids in December after opening with nine straight wins, but they bounced back to at least give themselves a chance of winning a first title since 2020-21.

They are hopeful of being at full strength with two-time league defender of the year Shea Ili expected to play, despite troublesome hamstring issues.

"The last eight games of the year we got back to statistically being the best defensive team so that's always a good base for us," said United coach Dean Vickerman.

"We've been really working on our offensive confidence and how we space the floor in big moments."

Tasmania have been ravaged by injury, with skipper Will Magnay among a swag of players ruled out.

Coach Scott Roth described the match as a "free swing", with no-one expecting the undermanned JackJumpers to upset Melbourne on their home deck.

"No-one's expecting anything from us ... our guys will play without the fear of failure," Roth said.

Rival Vickerman said the likes of Majok Deng, Nick Marshall and David Johnson still provided Tasmania with plenty of shooting threats, but the home side were more focused on their own game than what the 2023-24 would bring.

"The JackJumpers have always been tricky to prepare for, they always play a physical brand of basketball, whoever is on the floor," the United coach said.

"I guess our focus has really been on how can we put together the best style of basketball that can compete against anyone in this play-off series and not only compete but you know, be able to beat anyone in this play-off series."

Club MVP Jesse Edwards is set to play a big role in his first NBL finals campaign, with the Dutch import delivering his best match of the season in their round-17 clash with Tasmania.

The centre bagged 21 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks in their 79-77 victory back in January.

"I think five men coming into our league, there's always an adjustment with the refereeing and how you deal with that and that limited some of his minutes in the first part of the year," Vickerman added.

"I think he's got to a confidence level right now that he's more than willing to not only be a receiver and catch lobs, but he's got the ability to take people one on one as well."