Getty Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant and guard Stephen Curry
The Oklahoma City Thunder and Golden State Warriors have built an interesting rivalry in recent years. This is largely due to one superstar vs. superstar matchup, and the two teams will square off again on the NBA’s opening night.
The game is scheduled to start at 10:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast nationally on TNT. If you don’t have cable or can’t get to a TV, you can watch a live stream of the game (or DVR it) on your computer, phone or streaming device via one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services:
TNT is one of 85 channels included in the main Fubo bundle, which is tailored towards sports. 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 “72-Hour Lookback” feature, which allows you to watch games up to three days after they air even if you forgot to record them.
In addition to a Netflix-like on-demand streaming library, Hulu also offers a bundle of 50-plus live TV channels, including TNT. 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).
TNT is included in both the “Sling Orange” and “Sling Blue” channel packages. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial of either, 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
Unfortunately for NBA fans who were pining to see Russell Westbrook square off with Kevin Durant in one of the league’s best rivalries, that won’t happen on opening night. Westbrook will miss the game as he continues to rehab from arthroscopic knee surgery.
Even without Westbrook, the matchup between the Thunder and Warriors should be a fun one with plenty of points scored. These two teams squared off four times last season and it was an interesting split series. The Thunder won the first two games of the season by a combined 37 points, but then dropped the final two by 36 points.
As Land of Basketball shows, the all-time series favors the Thunder 137-110, even factoring in that the Warriors won seven-straight from February of 2016 through the end of the 2017 season.
The Warriors have become one of the most dominant franchises in the NBA over recent years, winning three of the last four NBA championships and falling just shy in the fourth year. Golden State also set an NBA record for regular-season wins over that stretch, posting a 73-9 record during the 2015-16 season behind the strong play of Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and a few others.
Golden State’s big three proceeded to add Durant to the mix in free agency after that, taking him from this same Thunder team. But Oklahoma City has bounced back from the loss of the former MVP nicely, winning at least 47 games in each of the past two seasons and rallying behind Westbrook.
The 29-year-old point guard has averaged a triple-double in both of the previous two years, and the addition of Paul George has helped the team on both ends of the floor. Although Westbrook will miss Tuesday’s game, George has stepped up admirably in his absence. In two games last year without his fellow All-Star, George averaged 31 points, 5.5 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game, per StatMuse.
A few other key names to watch on both sides include Thunder center Steven Adams, who’s improved in each season as a pro, and newly-acquired guard Dennis Schroder. The former Atlanta Hawks playmaker landed with Oklahoma City as part of the trade which sent Carmelo Anthony out of town.