The Boston Celtics head west to take on the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center tonight. While Boston is just trying to keep focus down the stretch with the top seed in the East all but locked up, the Suns are fighting to stay above the play-in line as they make their way through a very difficult part of their schedule.
This one is only a few moments from tipping off, at 8:30 p.m. ET, and it will be nationally televised on ABC. Fortunately, that means there are a lot of different ways to watch a live stream of the game, with many of those options available for free.
I know, I know. We promised some free options, and if you want to skip forward to those, you can take a look at the very next section. However, Sling TV is worth a mention because of how cheap of a long-term option it is compared to other live-TV streaming services.
You can watch a live stream of ESPN3 (which simulcasts NBA games on ABC like tonight’s Celtics vs Suns contest), ESPN, TNT and 30-plus other channels via “Sling Orange,” which is just $20 for you first month and then $40 per month after that. If you’re just looking to watch the nationally televised NBA games throughout the season, Sling is by far the cheapest way to do that. Even if you add in the “Sports Extra” add-on for another $11 per month to get the NBA TV games, it’s still cheaper than other streaming services.
Even Sling Orange plus the Sports Extra add-on plus NBA League Pass is a total of just $66 per month ($46 for your first month), which is right in line with the price of other services’ base plans without League Pass.
Our Sling spiel is over, and we have three different ways you can watch a live stream of the Suns vs Celtics without paying a single cent.
ABC (live in most markets) is available on Fubo, YouTube TV or DirecTV Stream. All of these are a bit more expensive long-term because they have much larger channel packages than Sling, but they all come with a free trial. You can watch Fubo for seven days before needing to pay or cancel, while YouTube TV and DirecTV Stream will each give you five days free.
Once signed up for any of the above, you can watch the game live on your streaming service’s website or app. Also, if ABC is not available live in your market, you can still watch the game on the ESPN website or app by logging in with your Fubo, YouTube TV or DirecTV Stream credentials.
If you don’t need a free trial and you’re ready to start paying for a live-TV streaming service right away, Hulu + Live TV is another candidate to consider. At $77 per month, it includes ABC (also available live in most markets) and 90-plus other channels, plus it also comes with the Hulu streaming library, Disney+ and ESPN+ ($15 per month value) at no extra cost.
Whether you’re trying to watch the game via Sling, Fubo, YouTube TV, DirecTV Stream or Hulu + Live TV, you’ll need a virtual private network (VPN) to watch from outside of the United States. VPN’s hide your IP address and connect you to a server in a location of your choosing (in this case, you would select a server in the US), allowing you to access content that would otherwise be geo-locked.
There are plenty of good VPN’s out there, but NordVPN has lots of enticing features and is confirmed to work with all of the aforementioned streaming services. You can also check out our guides to the best VPN services or best VPN deals for some other options.
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.