During this difficult time of self-isolation due to coronavirus, we offer you some alternatives to watch basketball games and other video content about the game we all love. The info regarding HBOGO and Netflix are referring to the Romanian market.
NBA:
The NBA League Pass offers free membership up until April 22nd, and does not require credit card information when creating an account – https://www.nba.com/nba-fan-letter-league-pass-free-preview
Here you can watch replays of this season’s games, as well as a series of classic NBA games – https://www.nba.com/video/classicgames
Moreover, Telekom Sport will broadcast a series of NBA games, as well. For updates, follow the NBA la Telekom Sport Facebook group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/1518508908436239/
FIBA:
The International Basketball Federation offers two classic games per day, starting at 11:00 and 17:00 (GMT), on its social media platforms. Their schedule also includes games of Team USA played during the World Cup or the Olympic Games. Full schedule and details – http://www.fiba.basketball/news/fiba-to-stream-classic-games-daily. The already streamed games can be found on FIBA’s YouTube channel – http://fiba.com/subYT.
For 3×3 basketball enthusiasts we recommend the FIBA 3×3 YouTube channel – https://www.youtube.com/user/3x3planet – which has already uploaded most of the games played in the recent years of major competitions (World Championships, Continental Cups, Qualifiers, as well as FIBA 3×3 World Tour, and some Challengers, among which you can find the Raiffeisen Bank Bucharest Challenger).
ESPN Player – https://www.espnplayer.com/
The online platform of the famous American television channel offers a 7-day trial period in which you can test the impressive video content it owns. However, in order to gain access to free trial, credit card information is required upon creating an account. The monthly cost of the membership is 65 lei, so if you do not want to continue it, you will have to cancel the trial membership before the expiration of the 7 days.
All documentaries part of the 30 for 30 series are available, including already classic productions such as Once Brothers (the story of Vlade Divac and Drazen Petrovic), Best of Enemies (the Celtics-Lakers rivalry, respectively the Magic Johnson-Larry Bird one), or Jordan Riding the Bus (the story of Michael Jordan playing Minor league baseball), as well as other documentaries on the current NBA heroes: Vince Carter, Kevin Durant, Dwyane Wade or LeBron James.
Furthermore, on ESPN Player you can also find games of Sabrina Ionescu, the American basketball player with Romanian origins, playing for Oregon University, and prone to be the No. 1 pick of the WNBA 2020 Draft (if it will be played).
Netflix:
The renowned streaming platform has in its portfolio lots of movies on and about basketball, including Coach Carter, but also extremely interesting documentaries on Vince Carter or Allen Iverson. Worth watching is Rucker50, a documentary on the famous playground of Harlem, New York.
HBO GO:
HBOGO.ro has just uploaded a sensational documentary called “Women of Troy”, which explores the story of the 1980s South California University women’s basketball team led by the legendary Cheryl Miller and the impact they had on women’s basketball.
Likewise, another exceptional documentary is Kareem: Minority of One. The movie presents a profile of the life and career of the great basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – Hall of Famer, 6-time MVP, and the all time NBA Points Leader. Kareem, known as Lewis Alcindor before converting to Islam, is a complex character who not only influenced the world basketball, but also the American society.
