The NBA playoffs: How to stream every moment

It's pretty difficult unless you have a live TV streaming subscription or cable

By Joe Allen Published April 18, 2025

NBA basketball — TJ Dragotta / Unsplash

The NBA playoffs kick off on April 19 with a full day of basketball, and the promise of two months of exciting games. As the best 16 teams in the league battle, those who have been watching all season will offer their predictions and follow some of the league’s most exciting storylines.

Will the Boston Celtics be able to defend their title? Will the historically great Oklahoma City Thunder, which one 68 games during the regular season, make it out of an ultra-competitive Western Conference? And will the tag-team of Luka Doncic and Lebron James be able to go on a run?

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We’re about to learn the answers to all of those questions, but in order to do that, you need to know how to actually watch the games. Here’s a full rundown on how to watch every series:

How to watch the NBA playoffs

The playoffs are being split across ABC, ESPN, TNT/TruTV and NBA TV, which means that the easiest way to watch them is to have a cable subscription or subscribe to a live TV streaming service like Fubo, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, or Sling. Hulu + Live TV does not have NBA TV, though, which is where only a small portion of games will be shown. Fubo, meanwhile, does not include TNT, which will have a large slice of the playoffs. Using Fubo, therefore, would be a poor choice. You can also watch the TNT/TruTV games through a Max subscription.

What are the matchups for the 2025 NBA playoffs?

Here are what this year’s matchups look like:

Eastern Conference

No. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. winner of Heat/Hawks
No. 2 Boston Celtics vs. No. 7 Orlando Magic
No. 3 New York Knicks vs. No. 6 Detroit Pistons
No. 4 Indiana Pacers vs. No. 5 Milwaukee Bucks

Western Conference

No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. winner of Mavs/Grizzlies
No. 2 Houston Rockets vs. No. 7 Golden State Warriors
No. 3 Los Angeles Lakers vs. No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves
No. 4 Denver Nuggets vs. No. 5 Los Angeles Clippers

Contributor

Joe Allen is a freelance culture writer based in upstate New York. His work has been published in The Washington Post, The…

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