After their furious comeback tied the series at two games apiece, the Oklahoma City Thunder return home for a Game 5 showdown against the Dallas Mavericks tonight. This one won’t completely decide the series, but tonight’s winner will become heavy favorites to advance.
The game is about to tip, at 9:30 p.m. ET, so pick a streaming option below soon. It’ll be televised on TNT, but if you’re looking for ways to stream the NBA playoffs, we’ve compiled a number of different options for watching a live stream of the Mavs vs Thunder Game 5.
If you’re searching for a way to watch a live stream of this game and the rest of the NBA playoffs, our recommendation is Sling TV, which is by far the cheapest cable-free way to watch every single game (televised on TNT, ESPN and ABC) of the NBA postseason.
The “Sling Blue” channel package will get you TNT, while the “Sling Orange” plan will get you ESPN and ESPN3 (which simulcasts ABC games). Those two plans are normally either $40 per month individually or $55 per month bundled together, but there’s a current Sling TV deal offering them for either $15 individually or $30 together. That’s $30 for every game of the playoffs, which is an unbelievably good deal.
If you’re only concerned about watching tonight’s game, you could start a free trial of YouTube TV (“Base Plan”) or DirecTV Stream (“Entertainment” plan or above). Both of these live-TV streaming services include TNT (as well as ABC and ESPN). They’re both more expensive than Sling long-term, but they offer a five-day free trial, allowing you to watch the Mavs vs Thunder Game 5 without paying anything.
Sling may be the cheapest long-term option for watching every NBA playoff game, but if you want the least expensive way to watch the TNT games only, then Max is the way to go. While there’s no Max free trial, it’s just $10 per month for a subscription, which will get you every game that’s televised on TNT. It’s part of the B/R Sports add-on, but you don’t need to do anything special to get it. It’s currently included at no extra cost.
For those who are outside of the United States and don’t want to bother with international streaming sites, you can use a virtual private network (VPN) to access any of the aforementioned streaming services (you’ll still need a subscription). Those services are all restricted to US-only, but a VPN hides your IP address/location in order to bypass those geo-locks.
NordVPN sits atop our list of the best VPN services, so that’s what we would go with to watch the Mavs vs Thunder Game 5 from abroad. It comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
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