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How to watch the NBA conference finals: Full schedule, livestream options, more
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The NBA conference finals are here, promising tense matchups from teams hungry for an NBA championship. If you’ve cut the cable cord — or are considering it — subscribing to an affordable live TV streaming platform offering the channels you need to watch your favorite sporting events live is priority No. 1.
We’d like to think of ourselves as streaming platform savants, well-versed in the best streaming platforms available. When it comes to watching the 2024 NBA conference finals, we’re saying yes to Sling TV. The live TV streaming platform offers all the channels we need to watch the NBA conference finals at a surprisingly affordable price, especially compared with cable TV. And when the NBA conference finals are over, we’ll be able to watch the NBA Finals, NHL, baseball, hockey, NASCAR and many NFL games next season, plus our favorite network and cable TV-aired programs — all on one platform.
Sling TV is a slam dunk for NBA fans who want to watch all the terrific basketball being played in the postseason without wasting money on a hefty monthly cable bill. Tap the button below to sign up now, or read on to learn more about watching the 2024 NBA conference finals on Sling TV.
How and when to watch the 2024 NBA conference finals
The conference finals are scheduled to begin Tuesday, May 21, 2024 when the Indiana Pacers face the Boston Celtics for Game 1 of the teams’ playoffs series. This year’s conference finals will be broadcast on ESPN, ABC and TNT, and will stream live on Sling TV.
Sling TV is the best way to stream the 2024 NBA conference finals
If you don’t have cable TV that includes ESPN, TNT and ABC, one of the best and most cost-effective ways to stream the NBA conference finals is through a subscription to Sling TV. To watch every game of the conference finals you’ll need a subscription to the Orange + Blue tier plan, which gives you access to every channel airing the NBA conference finals, and the 2024 NBA Finals airing on ABC.
Sling’s Orange + Blue tier costs $60 per month, but the platform is currently offering 50% off the first month of any pricing tier, making the Orange + Blue tier $30 for the first month.
Top features of Sling TV Orange + Blue tier:
- Sling TV is our top choice to stream the NBA Playoffs.
- Sling TV is also our top choice to stream the NHL Playoffs.
- There are 46 channels to watch in total, including ABC, NBC and Fox (where available).
- You get access to NBA games airing on TNT (not available on some other streaming platforms).
- All subscription tiers include 50 hours of cloud-based DVR storage.
When are the 2024 NBA conference finals?
Sam Hodde/Getty Images
Conference finals schedule
The conference finals are scheduled to be begin on May 21, 2024. Below is the schedule for the NBA conference finals. All times Eastern.
Eastern Conference
(1) Boston vs. (6) Indiana
• Game 1: Pacers vs. Celtics, Tuesday, May 21 (8:00 ET, ESPN)
• Game 2: Pacers vs. Celtics, Thursday, May 23 (8:00 ET, ESPN)
• Game 3: Celtics vs. Pacers, Saturday, May 25 (8:30 ET, ABC)
• Game 4: Celtics vs. Pacers, Monday, May 27 (8:00 ET, ESPN)
• Game 5: Pacers vs. Celtics, Wednesday, May 29 (8:00 ET, ESPN)*
• Game 6: Celtics vs. Pacers, Friday, May 31 (8:00 ET, ESPN)*
• Game 7: Pacers vs. Celtics, Sunday, June 2 (8:00 ET, ESPN)*
* = if necessary
Western Conference
3) Minnesota vs. (5) Dallas
• Game 1: Mavericks vs. Timberwolves, Wednesday, May 22 (8:30 ET, TNT)
• Game 2: Mavericks vs. Timberwolves, Friday, May 24 (8:30 ET, TNT)
• Game 3: Timberwolves vs. Mavericks, Sunday, May 26 (8:00 ET, TNT)
• Game 4: Timberwolves vs. Mavericks, Tuesday, May 28 (8:30 ET, TNT)
• Game 5: Mavericks vs. Timberwolves, Thursday, May 30 (8:30 ET, TNT)*
• Game 6: Timberwolves vs. Mavericks, Saturday, June 1 (8:30 ET, TNT)*
• Game 7: Mavericks vs. Timberwolves, Monday, June 3 (8:30 ET, TNT)*
* = if necessary
NBA Finals schedule
The 2024 NBA Finals will begin June 6, airing on ABC and streaming on Sling TV.
- Sunday, June 9: Game 2
- Wednesday, June 12: Game 3
- Friday, June 14: Game 4
- Monday, June 17: Game 5 (if necessary)
- Thursday, June 20: Game 6 (if necessary)
- Sunday, June 23: Game 7 (if necessary)
Who’s playing in the 2024 NBA conference finals?
The Boston Celtics punched a ticket to their third straight appearance in the NBA Eastern Conference finals, after beating the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games during the conference semifinals. They’ll face the Indiana Pacers, who ousted the New York Knicks in Game 7 of the second round of the playoffs.
In the West, the Dallas Mavericks will face the Minnesota Timberwolves, who upset the 2023 NBA champion Denver Nuggets in the second round of of the playoffs.
While the Celtics team is no stranger to the conference finals, and the Mavericks made an appearance in the Western Conference finals in 2022, the Pacers were last seen in the conference finals in 2014 when they lost to the Miami Heat. But it’s the Timberwolves who have the most to celebrate just by getting this far. It’s been 20 years since Wolves fans saw their team in the Western Conference finals.
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Washington — Congress’ path forward on government funding is in limbo after House Republicans, with the support of Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump, torpedoed an initial deal to avert a shutdown before a Friday night deadline.
The House descended into chaos Wednesday when the GOP revolt sank a last-minute funding measure to keep the government operating through early next year.
The massive end-of-year spending legislation immediately sparked anger from conservatives when it was unveiled late Tuesday. Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy referred to it on X as a “1,547-page Christmas tree,” while Rep. Kat Cammack, a Florida Republican, called it “a band-aid that is laced with fentanyl.”
The more than 1,500-page bill released Tuesday was far from a modest stopgap measure. In addition to extending government funding through March 14, it included disaster aid, health care policy extenders and a pay raise for members of Congress, among other provisions. The disaster relief portion of the bill came with a $110 billion price tag.
Elon Musk, the co-head of Trump’s advisory Department of Government Efficiency chimed in with a barrage of posts Wednesday calling the bill “criminal” and suggestions that Republicans who supported it did not belong in Congress. And the opposition culminated in statements from Trump lambasting the new spending and threatening a primary challenge against any Republican supporting the measure.
The president-elect called on Republicans to strip out the additional spending and added a new element instead — raising the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling, which limits how much the government can borrow to pay its bills, is suspended until the first quarter of next year, but Trump said he’d prefer to force President Biden to approve raising the debt ceiling so he wouldn’t have to sign it.
“I will fight ’till the end,” Trump wrote.
Top House Republicans met Wednesday night after the initial deal fell apart, but a new path forward remained unclear Thursday morning as Congress lurched toward Friday night’s deadline to fund the government.
Though stripping out most of the additional funding would satisfy many Republicans, Johnson is likely to need dozens of votes from Democrats, and some are already slamming Johnson for walking away from the agreement. They argue Republicans will shoulder any blame for a potential shutdown.
“Republicans have now unilaterally decided to break a bipartisan agreement that they made,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, said Wednesday. “House Republicans will now own any harm that is visited upon the American people that results from a government shutdown or worse.”
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Spending fight throws Johnson’s speakership into question
The initial plan to keep the government funded and the chaos that surrounded it also prompted intense criticism of Johnson, including from members of his own party.
In addition to the slew of add-ons to the spending bill, conservatives are angry with Johnson for carrying out the negotiating process largely occurred outside of the view of rank-and-file members. Rep. Eric Burlison, a Missouri Republican, called the process “a total dumpster fire.”
A handful of Republicans indicated their support for Johnson’s speakership in the new Congress is now in question, and with such a narrow majority, it would take only a few to take him down. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, said flatly Wednesday that he won’t support Johnson in the speaker’s election.
“I’m not voting for him,” Massie said. “This solidifies it.”
In November, House Republicans backed Johnson to lead for another two years during their leadership elections. But the full chamber will vote to elect a speaker on Jan. 3. During the last speaker fight at the beginning of a new Congress in 2023, the slim Republican majority took 15 rounds to elect former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted from the role nine months later, partly due to his handling of government funding.
Still, Johnson generally enjoys more favor than McCarthy with the president-elect, who wields widespread influence over House Republicans. Trump told Fox News Digital on Thursday that Johnson would “easily remain speaker” if he “acts decisively and tough” and eliminates “all of the traps being set by Democrats” in the spending package.
