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Friday’s matchup between the Boston Celtics and Charlotte Hornets means one thing. The NBA is back. It may only be the preseason, but it’s good to have basketball in our lives again after a near four-month break.
The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on NBA TV (nationally televised), NBC Sports Boston (locally televised) and Fox Sports Southeast (locally televised). If you don’t have cable or can’t get to a TV, you can watch a live stream of the game on your computer, phone or streaming device via one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services:
NBA TV, NBC Sports Boston (if you live in the Celtics market) and Fox Sports Southeast (if you live in the Hornets market) are all included in the main Fubo package, which comes with 85-plus channels and is largely tailored towards sports fans. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the FuboTV website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the FuboTV app.
If you can’t watch live, FuboTV comes with 30 hours of Cloud DVR (with the ability to upgrade to 500 hours), as well as a handy “72-Hour Lookback” feature, which will allow you to watch the game on-demand up to three days after it airs even if you forgot to record it.
In addition to a Netflix-like on-demand streaming library, Hulu also offers a bundle of 50-plus live TV channels, including NBC Sports Boston (if you live in the Celtics market) and Fox Sports Southeast (if you live in the Hornets market). NBA TV is not included, however, so this is more an option only if you reside in either team’s market. You can sign up for “Hulu with Live TV” right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the Hulu website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Hulu app.
If you can’t watch live, “Hulu with Live TV” comes with 50 hours of Cloud DVR storage (with the ability to upgrade to “Enhanced Cloud DVR,” which gives you 200 hours of DVR space and the ability to fast forward through commercials).
NBC Sports Boston (if you live in the Celtics market) and Fox Sports Southeast (if you live in the Hornets market) are both included in the “Sling Blue” channel package, while NBA TV is in the “Sports Extra” add-on, which can be added to either base bundle. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial of any bundle and add-ons right here, and you can then watch the game live on your computer via the Sling TV website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Sling TV app.
If you can’t watch live, you can get 50 hours of cloud DVR storage as an additional add-on.
Preview
With LeBron James now in the West, the path to the finals looks to be a fairly clear one for the Boston Celtics this year. The Toronto Raptors, with the addition of Kawhi Leonard, and the Philadelphia 76ers, with a talented young core that should keep improving, serve as the biggest road blocks, but the C’s won 55 games last year, handled the Sixers with relative ease in the East semis and were a game away from the finals.
And that was without two max players.
Boston got just five minutes out of Gordon Hayward before his gruesome ankle injury, while Irving missed the last 15 games of the season and all of the playoffs with a left knee injury. Not only are both going to back for the start of the 2018-19 campaign, but they’re both expected to play during Friday night’s preseason opener:
#Haywatch update: Gordon told me he plans to play in the #Celtics first preseason game Friday. Get excited and catch it @NBCSBoston!
Kyrie Irving also says he expects to play Friday. And, in addition to the headband, he was sporting some sweet slips post practice. #Celtics #UncleDrew
With Irving and Hayward healthy, the Celtics are legitimately two-deep at every position. The health of those two will surely be the biggest storyline in Boston this preseason, but it will also be compelling to see how Brad Stevens handles his rotations and gets everyone minutes.
As for the Hornets, the roster remains mostly unchanged from last season, but there was one big move with the signing of Tony Parker. After 47 seasons with the Spurs (I looked it up and apparently it was only 17), it will be weird to see Parker with another team.
“It’s very strange, very weird,” Parker said. “I’ve got to get used to that color.”
The novelty of Parker in a new uniform aside, the Hornets have some intriguing young players to watch this preseason.
Malik Monk’s efficiency was dreadful as a rookie, but he averaged 19.0 points on 46.7 percent shooting and 3.7 threes at a 40.0 percent clip in the last six games of the season, so his improvement will be something to watch. He’s likely to start the year on the bench behind Jeremy Lamb, but he could develop into a nice instant-offense option off the bench.
Willy Hernangomez logged just 11.9 minutes per game after being traded to Charlotte from New York last season, but Dwight Howard is now gone and new head coach James Borrego has been talking Hernangomez up this offseason, saying that the 24-year-old big man is capable of averaging a double-double.
“It’s up to him to put pressure on me and our staff to play him the minutes to go get those double-doubles,” Borrego noted.
And then there’s rookie Miles Bridges. The No. 12 overall pick was mostly underwhelming during Summer League, but a strong performance during the preseason could easily help him carve out an early role in the rotation.
All-in-all, there will be plenty to watch during the preseason opener.