The Miami Heat travel to the Boston Celtics to face off in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday, May 17. The game will be live streamed on Sling, which offers half off the first month, and on DirecTV Stream (free trial).

From the pandemic to the play-in tournament, not much has kept the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat from crossing paths in the Eastern Conference finals recently.

When they tip off Game 1 of their latest playoffs pairing on Wednesday night, it will mark the third East finals matchup between Miami and Boston in the last four seasons and the second straight after Boston prevailed in seven games last spring.

The Heat and Celtics still playing this late in the year can’t be a surprise anymore.

The Celtics have a pair of top-notch scorers. First-team All-NBA selection Jayson Tatum (30.1 points per game) is coming off a playoff-record 51-point performance against the 76ers and has scored 30 or more points five times this postseason. Brown is averaging 26.6 points.

The Heat’s season didn’t come without major challenges. Miami didn’t spend a day over .500 until mid-December, had a stretch where it lost 12 out of 20 games late in the regular season, lost a play-in game to Atlanta and trailed in an elimination play-in game against Chicago with 2:18 remaining.

When is Celtics-Heat?

The Boston Celtics and Miami Heat play in an NBA playoff game at 7:30 p.m. (8:30 p.m. ET) on Wednesday, May 17.

Streaming options

Sling

Sling is also one of the cheaper live streaming services. It offers three different channel packages for its users: Sling Orange, Sling Blue and Sling Orange + Blue.

All three packages are offering half off the first month.

Sling Blue and Sling Orange are both $40 per month ($20 for the first month), but offer different channel selections.

The main difference between the two packages is the line of ESPN channels offered with Sling Orange as opposed to channels such as Fox News, MSNBC, Discovery and Bravo offered with Sling Blue.

Meanwhile, Sling Orange + Blue is both packages combined for $55 a month ($27.50 the first month).

DirecTV Stream

DirecTV Stream offers a free trial.

There are four options of DirecTV Stream. Price guaranteed for first two years.

The Entertainment Package, which consists of 65+ channels, is $64.99 until the promotion runs out April 30. It’s the basic package for can’t-miss entertainment – including ESPN, TNT, Nickelodeon and HGTV.

The Choice Package has more than 90 channels and is $84.99 during the promotion. The channels in ENTERTAINMENT, plus MLB Network, NBA TV, college sports networks, and more. Enjoy Regional Sports Networks with no additional fees.

The Ultimate Package has more than 130 channels and is $109.99 during the promotion. Everything in CHOICE, plus Oxygen, Golf Channel, NHL Network, Universal Kids and more.

The Premier Package has more than 140 channels and is $154.99 during the promotion. Everything in ULTIMATE, plus HBO Max, SHOWTIME, STARZ, Cinemax and more.

DirecTV Stream offers a free trial that doesn’t require much effort.

To sign up, enter a phone number, email address and credit card, and you’ll receive five days of the service without charge.

In addition, enhance your experience with the DirecTV Stream device. While it doesn’t include a free trial, it give you access to thousands of apps like Netflix and more on Google Play. You can search using the voice remote with Google Assistant, and you can enjoy a traditional live TV channel guide. It is sold separately.

What TV channel is game on?

The Heat and Celtics will be broadcast on TNT.

Preview

RUN THE EAST: This is the 10th time in the last 14 years that the Heat, Celtics or both have been in the conference finals.

Boston and Miami have each been there seven times in that span — four times against one another.

Over those 14 seasons, nine teams have been to the East finals at least once. The exceptions: Detroit, Washington, New York, Brooklyn, Charlotte and Philadelphia.

IN THE ZONE: The Heat have become notorious for using zone defensive sets to disrupt teams.

They’ll face a Celtics team that has had its issues against the zone throughout the regular season and in the playoffs.

The 76ers used it at times during their semifinals matchup against Boston, having the most success in Game 1 when they limited the Celtics to 49 points in the second half of Philadelphia’s 119-115 win.

Coach Joe Mazzulla said it’s something they’ve prepared to deal with against Miami.

“Just play with pace. I think it starts with our defense,” Mazzulla said. “You can’t pass up open shots and you have to have great spacing. People play zone to slow you down. We have to play just as fast against zone as we do against man.”

PERFECT LOVE: Love’s teams have played in 14 Eastern Conference playoff series with him on the roster.

They’re 14-0 in those matchups.

Love played in 12 of those series, missing two in 2015 while injured. He’s 2-0 in series so far this season with Miami. All his other East playoff appearances came with Cleveland during the LeBron James era.

He watched Game 7 of Celtics-Heat last season, still a member of the Cavs, with no real rooting interest. “When you’re playing for a different team, you kind of wish they all could lose, somehow,” Love said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.