Desperately needing a victory, the Dallas Mavericks return home for Game 3 of the NBA finals against the Boston Celtics. The C’s held out at home in the first two contests, and now the pressure has really mounted on Luka Dončić and the Mavs, setting this one up as a potential thriller.
Game 3 is just about to start, at 8:30 p.m. ET tonight, and will be televised on ABC. However, if you don’t have cable or you want to stream the NBA playoffs for any other reason, we have a bevy of different ways you can watch a live stream of the Celtics vs Mavs for free or cheap.
Most live-TV streaming services include ABC. However, some have ABC live more markets than others, while only a couple offer a free trial. The three that check both boxes are Fubo (“Pro” channel plan), YouTube TV (“Base Plan”) and DirecTV Stream (“Entertainment” plan or above). All three include ABC in most markets in the United States, and all three offer a free trial.
The Fubo free trial lasts for seven days. So, if you sign up today, you’ll be able to watch a live stream of Game 3 (today), Game 4 (Friday) and Game 5 (Monday, if necessary) before you either cancel your subscription or pay for the first month. But if the series goes longer than that, you can use a free trial for either YouTube TV or DirecTV Stream (both trials are five days) to get you through to a potential Game 7.
If you’ve run out of free trial options, the cheapest way to watch a live stream of the game is through Sling TV. ABC isn’t available in many markets on Sling, but the “Sling Orange” channel package does come with ESPN3, which simulcasts all NBA on ABC games. It’s normally $40 per month, but if you’re a new subscriber, you can get it for just $15 for your first month.
If you’re out of the United States, you won’t be able to access any of the previously mentioned streaming services unless you have a virtual private network (VPN). Essentially, a VPN hides your IP address and makes it look–in the digital sense–like you’re actually in a different country. This lets you stream location-restricted content from around the world.
We would go with NordVPN, which is reliable, fast and–perhaps most importantly–very easy to use. It doesn’t have a free trial, but it offers a 30-day money-back guarantee to let you try it out risk-free. As No. 1 on our list of the best VPN services, there isn’t much risk anyways.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.