Getty The Miami Heat will take on the Milwaukee Bucks in the season opener.
The defending NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks will head to FTX Arena to take on the Miami Heat in an Eastern Conference showdown on Thursday night.
The game (8 p.m. ET start time) will be televised on Bally Sports Wisconsin for those who live in the Bucks market and Bally Sports Sun for those who live in the Heat market. It will also stream live on NBA League Pass for everyone out of market.
Here’s a full rundown of how you can watch a live stream of the Bucks vs Heat, with your options depending on where you live:
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If the Game is in Your Market
DirecTV Stream
This is the only streaming service that has Bally Sports Wisconsin or Bally Sports Sun
DirecTV Stream (formerly AT&T TV) has four different channel packages: “Entertainment,” “Choice,” “Ultimate” and “Premier.” Bally Sports Wisconsin and Bally Sports Sun (both live in local markets) are included in “Choice” and up.
You can sign up right here:
Once signed up for DirecTV Stream, you can watch the Bucks vs Heat live on the DirecTV Stream app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Fire Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Samsung TV, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet. Or you can watch on your computer via the DirecTV Stream website.
If you can’t watch live, DirecTV Stream also comes with 20 hours of Cloud DVR storage (with the ability to upgrade to 500 hours).
If the Game is out of Your Market
Amazon Prime’s NBA League Pass Channel
Note: This is ultimately the same as regular NBA League Pass (more info on that below), but with this option you’ll be able to watch games on the Amazon app, which tends to be available on more devices than the NBA app
Amazon Prime subscribers (Prime comes with a 30-day free trial) can watch every out-of-market NBA game via Prime Channels. You can try both Amazon Prime and the NBA League Pass channel at no cost with a free trial:
NBA League Pass on Amazon Prime
Once you’re signed up for the Prime NBA League Pass channel, out-of-market viewers can watch the Bucks vs Heat live or on-demand on the Amazon Video app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Firestick, Apple TV, Chromecast, any device with Android TV (such as a Sony TV or Nvidia Shield), Xbox One or Series X/S, PlayStation 4 or 5, various smart TV’s, Xiaomi, Echo Show or Echo Spot, iPhone, Android phone, iPad or Android tablet.
You can also watch on your computer via the Amazon website.
NBA League Pass
Again, this is mostly the same as the Amazon Prime option above, with the big difference being you’ll watch on NBA’s platforms rather than Amazon’s:
Once signed up for NBA League Pass, out-of-market viewers can watch the Bucks vs Heat live or on-demand on the NBA app, which is available on your Roku, Roku TV, Amazon Fire TV or Firestick, Apple TV, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 or 5, iPhone, Android phone, iPad, Android tablet or other compatible device.
You can also watch on your computer via the NBA website.
Bucks vs Heat Preview
This game will be a rematch of the first round of the playoffs last year, in which Giannis Antetokounmpo and company swept Miami in four games.
The Bucks finished with a 46-26 overall mark and a 30-12 record in the Eastern Conference before going on to win it all. Heading into this season, Giannis isn’t focused on anything but improving, which should scare the heck out of the rest of the league.
“Right now, what I want is to get better,” Antetokounmpo said, per The Washington Post. “I don’t care about trophies. I don’t care about MVPs. I don’t care about defensive player of the year. I don’t care about all those things. I care about getting better, because I know if I do that, there’s more things coming with that and that’s what I’ve done my whole career and that’s why I’m in this position.”
On the other side, the Heat had an 40-31 record and a 24-18 mark in the conference last year. Miami had a top five defense last season, allowing 108.0 points a game (fifth in the NBA), but its offense lacked punch, averaging just 108.1 points per contest (25th in the league).
“We’re ready,” Heat forward Jimmy Butler said about this coming season. “Hell, if you go through training camp, you’d better be ready to go man. Now all of these hard practices get to dumb down a little bit. The real games are here. They count and we’re ready for it.”
Here’s a look at the injury report for the game, along with a look at the rosters for both teams.
Injuries:
- Heat: None
- Bucks: Donte DiVincenzo: out (foot), Bobby Portis: out (left hamstring), Semi Ojeleye: out (left calf), Rodney Hood: out (right foot), Jrue Holiday: day to day (right heel).
Heat Roster: Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, Bam Adebayo, Duncan Robinson, P.J. Tucker, Tyler Herro, Markieff Morris, Dewayne Dedmon, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent, KZ Okpala, Omer Yurtseven, Victor Oladipo, Udonis Haslem *Two way players: Caleb Martin & Marcus Garrett.
Bucks Roster: Grayson Allen- Guard, Giannis Antetokounmpo- Forward, Thanasis Antetokounmpo- Forward, Pat Connaughton- Guard, Donte DiVincenzo- Guard, George Hill- Guard (signed as free agent), Jrue Holiday- Guard, Rodney Hood- G/F (signed as free agent), Georgios Kalaitzakis- Forward, Brook Lopez- Center, Sandro Mamukelashvili- F/C (signed as Draft Pick two-way contract), Khris Middleton- Forward, Jordan Nwora- Forward, Semi Ojeleye- Forward (signed as free agent), Bobby Portis- Forward, Justin Robinson- Guard (signed as free agent)