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After relatively easy five-game first-round series wins, the Toronto Raptors (58-24; 4-1) and Philadelphia 76ers (51-31; 4-1) prepare to face off in a matchup of Atlantic Division rivals when the Eastern Conference semifinals begin with Game 1 at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday night.
The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be televised on TNT. If you don’t have cable, you can watch a live stream of TNT on your computer, phone, Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV or other streaming device via one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services:
TNT is one of 85-plus live TV channels included in the main FuboTV bundle, which is largely tailored towards sports.
You can start a free 7-day trial of FuboTV right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the FuboTV website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast or other supported device via the FuboTV app.
If you can’t watch live, FuboTV comes with 30 hours of cloud DVR space, as well as a 72-hour look-back feature, which allows you to watch the game (and other programs) on-demand within three days of its conclusion, even if you don’t record it.
In addition to a Netflix-like on-demand streaming library, Hulu also offers a bundle of 60-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 (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Echo Show, or other streaming device via the Hulu app.
If you can’t watch live, Hulu With Live TV comes with 50 hours of cloud DVR space, as well as the option to upgrade to “Enhanced Cloud DVR,” which gives you 200 hours of space and the ability to fast-forward through commercials.
PS Vue–which doesn’t require an actual PlayStation console to sign up or watch–offers four different live-TV channel packages, all of which include TNT, but if you plan on keeping Vue for the rest of the NBA playoffs, you can get the “Core” bundle (65-plus channels, including ESPN, TNT and NBA TV) for $10 off your first two months right now.
You can start a free 5-day trial of PS Vue right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the PS Vue website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation (3 or 4), or other supported device via the PS Vue app.
If you can’t watch live, PS Vue comes with cloud DVR.
76ers vs Raptors Game 1 Preview
After blowing Game 1 in spectacular Raptors-like fashion, the Atlantic Division champions recovered to win four straight games against the Orlando Magic with relative ease. Similarly, the 76ers looked flat in Game 1 against the Brooklyn Nets only to rally for four consecutive wins of their own. The coaching matchup between Raptors’ Nick Nurse and 76ers’ Brett Brown will be fascinating to watch throughout the series.
Why? Brown could very well be coaching for his job. Philadelphia was 1-3 against Toronto this season. The 76ers’ lone victory against the Raptors this season was back on Dec. 22, without Kawhi Leonard in the lineup. The regular-season series and record is totally lopsided, being one-sided dominance by the Raptors since the start of the 2013-14 campaign.
76ers guard JJ Redick told reporters during the week that the remainder of the team has to adjust their play style if they want any chance of hanging with the favored Raptors in this series.
“You can certainly look at the roster turnover and not make much of the regular season. But I think there’s certain philosophies that we’ve got to be better at. The main one I think is, just take care of the basketball. They’re long, athletic, and they play at times a swarming style of defense. You saw that at times during the Orlando series. We’ve got to be good with that. We’ve got to take care of the basketball.”
Since the last meeting between the Raptors and 76ers, Tobias Harris was acquired before the Trade Deadline. Harris has given Philadelphia a scoring jolt since arriving, stepping up with 29- and 24-point performances in Game 3 and Game 4 against the Nets respectively while the status of All-Star Joel Embiid remained up in the air with his knee injury.
Embiid is officially not listed on the Raptors’ injury report, and is set to play in Game 1:
Embiid will get a heavy dose of Marc Gasol, while teammate Ben Simmons will likely be tasked with figuring out Kyle Lowry. Leonard could likely be matched up on Simmons at times during this series, but could draw Jimmy Butler more early on to dictate the tempo. Backup OG Anunoby, known for his perimeter defense and a key part of the Raptors’ bench, remains out for this series and indefinitely after undergoing an emergency appendectomy on April 11.