Getty Los Angeles Lakers F LeBron James
Welcome to Los Angeles, LeBron James. While the Lakers already had their opener, Saturday night will feature LeBron in his first regular-season game at the Staples Center and it comes against one of the NBA’s elite teams in the Houston Rockets.
The game is scheduled to start at 10:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN. If you don’t have cable or can’t get to a TV, you can still watch a live stream of the game (or DVR it) on your computer, phone or streaming device by signing up for one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services:
In addition to a Netflix-like on-demand streaming library, Hulu also offers a bundle of 50-plus live TV channels, including ESPN. 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” also 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).
ESPN is included in the “Sling Orange” channel package. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial of either or both, and you can then watch a live stream of the game 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.
ESPN Platforms
Additionally, you can also watch a live stream of the game on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. You’ll need to log in to a cable provider to watch this way, but if you don’t have that, you can still sign up for one of the above options and then use your Hulu or Sling TV credentials to sign in and watch on the ESPN digital platforms.
Preview
The Houston Rockets will be hungry in their attempt to spoil James’ home debut for the Lakers after falling in their opener 131-112 to the New Orleans Pelicans. While the Rockets are the class of the Western Conference and the Lakers are expected to push some of the top-tier teams, both teams began their year with a loss.
At 0-1 and in a primetime matchup, it’ll be interesting to see how these two teams respond to the situation. Houston received a well-rounded effort in the opener with 18 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds from James Harden and 19 points with six assists from Chris Paul. Both Eric Gordon (21 points) and P.J. Tucker (19 points) provided an additional scoring punch.
Unfortunately for the Rockets, the well-rounded scoring approach wasn’t enough to keep up with the Pelicans on this night. Carmelo Anthony’s debut with the team didn’t quite go as planned either, considering he shot just 3-10 from the field for nine points in 27 minutes.
LeBron certainly showed up with a strong performance for Los Angeles, but his 26 points, 12 rebounds and six assists weren’t enough to knock off the Portland Trail Blazers. James misfired on all four his 3-point attempts as well and had a team-high six turnovers. Outside shooting was among the biggest issues for the Lakers in the 128-119 loss, as the team made just 23.3 percent from behind the arc.
Josh Hart (20 points) and Kyle Kuzma (15 points) provided a nice spark off the bench and seem to be the clear-cut top options on the second unit. James also got help from the starting five as Brandon Ingram scored 16 points and Rajon Rondo had a solid 13 points with 11 assists and four rebounds.
Both the Rockets and Lakers seemingly have some issues which need to be sorted out. Fans should find out tonight which team made the proper adjustments ahead of a key early-season game. It’s hard to argue that this Western Conference battle won’t be one of the best games of the season to this point.
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