Free NBA League Pass, Australian Open and More to Watch This Week

Must Watch: FREE NBA League Pass Week

We’re just past the midway point of the NBA season, which means another free week of NBA League Pass. You can watch every out-of-market game from all over the league on B/R Live at no cost this week, and the matchups are bringing the heat.

Here’s a sampling of what’s coming this week, with all times Eastern:

Memphis Grizzlies at Houston Rockets, led by MVP frontrunner James Harden (Monday, 8 p.m.) Watch

Golden State Warriors at Denver Nuggets, the top two teams in the West (Tuesday, 9 p.m.) Watch

San Antonio Spurs at Dallas Mavericks, featuring Rookie of the Year candidate Luka Doncic (Wednesday 8:30 p.m.) Watch

Phoenix Suns at Toronto Raptors. The Suns beat the first-place Nuggets over the weekend, can they do the same to the East leaders? (Thursday, 7:30 p.m.) Watch

This free NBA League Pass week features top teams including the Celtics, Nuggets and Bucks three times each and the Warriors, Rockets, and Mavericks twice apiece.

Here’s how to watch on B/R Live and here’s the full NBA schedule.

Watch This: Australian Open Begins

OK, technically the first major of the 2019 tennis season began Sunday night in the United States, but it was Monday in Australia. The tournament got an even bigger injection of buzz late last week when three-time major champion Andy Murray announced his plans to retire this season due to a hip injury. With tears in his eyes, Murray said he’d like to play Wimbledon in the summer as his final tournament, but acknowledged that the Australian Open may be his final time on the court.

In his first match early Monday morning, Murray fell to Roberto Bautista Agut in a five-set match that lasted more than four hours. "I gave literally everything I had," Murray said afterward. "It wasn't enough tonight."

As for the rest of the field, ESPN and ESPN2 will broadcast the entire tournament. If you want to watch live, get ready for some late nights, early mornings or both as Melbourne is 16 hours ahead of US Eastern time. Over the next two weeks, coverage will begin between 7 and 9 p.m. every night and run live until 7 a.m. the following morning. The top four seeds on the men’s side are No. 1 Novak Djokovic, No. 2 Rafael Nadal, No. 3 Roger Federer and No. 4 Alexander Zverev. The women’s draw is headlined by No. 1 Simona Halep, No. 2 Angelique Kerber, No. 4 Naomi Osaka and No. 16 Serena Williams, who is looking for her first major championship following the birth of her daughter.

All eight of those players will hit the court within the first two days of the tournament. For the full draw go here, and for the full match schedule go here.

3 More Things To Watch This Week

1. Men's College Basketball Top-10 Matchups

The NCAA Men’s basketball season is really rolling now and isn’t slowing down this week. We have top-10 matchups, conference foes and in-state rivals going at it as the journey to March revs up.

Syracuse at No. 1 Duke (Monday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN): Duke played the entire second half of Saturday’s win over Florida State without Zion Williamson after he got poked in the eye. His status for tonight's Sweet 16 rematch is still TBD.

Texas at No. 7 Kansas (Monday, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN): The second- and third-place teams in the Big 12 go head to head at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, where the Jayhawks are undefeated this season.

No. 9 Virginia Tech at No. 4 Virginia (Tuesday, 8 p.m ET, WatchESPN): These teams are tied for first in the ACC, are a combined 29-1 (with the one loss coming by 1 point), and don’t give up any points. Twice in each of their last five games they’ve held their opponents in the 40s.

No. 20 Iowa State at No. 8 Texas Tech (Wednesday, 9 p.m. ET, ESPNU): Speaking of not giving up any points, the Big 12-leading Red Raiders would like a word. They’ve stifled their first four conference opponents, while the Cyclones have lost two in a row since upsetting Kansas.

2. Supercoppa Italiana Final

Juventus vs. AC Milan (Wednesday, 12:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2): Cristiano Ronaldo gets his first chance to lift a trophy with Juventus as the two Italian powers collide at King Abdullah Sports City in Saudi Arabia. Each side has won the Supercoppa seven times in their storied histories. Juventus won Italy’s Coppa Italia and Serie A last season, with AC Milan finishing second, setting up this matchup. It’s the tenth time the final will be played outside of Italy.

3. NHL Heavyweights Face Big Tests

Two first-place teams have major matchups this week that also include rematches from last season’s playoffs.

Vegas Golden Knights at Winnipeg Jets (Tuesday, 8 p.m., TSN3): A rematch of last season’s Western Conference Finals as the Jets (58 points) host the Knights (60 points), who won their playoff series last summer.

Tampa Bay Lightning at Dallas Stars (Tuesday, 8:30 p.m., Fox Sports Southwest): A win over the NHL-leading Lightning would help the Stars significantly as they push into the playoff picture in the West.

This video has nothing to do with any of these teams, but please enjoy Snoop Dogg’s brilliant hockey fight commentary from the weekend:

Toronto Maple Leafs at Tampa Bay Lightning (Thursday, 7:30 p.m., ESPN+): Toronto would be in front of or just a couple points back in every other division in the NHL except its own, thanks to Tampa Bay’s ridiculous 72 points already this season. The Leafs can start to close the gap with a win Thursday night.

Winnipeg Jets at Nashville Predators (Thursday, 8 p.m., ESPN+): In another 2018 playoff rematch, that series won by Winnipeg, the Jets travel to Nashville in what has become one of the league’s top and most entertaining rivalries. Expect a lot of goals as these teams play, with first place in the Central Division potentially going to the winner. 

Full NHL standings

Quick Catch-Up

1. Super Bowl Halftime Performers Announced

After weeks of rumors and reports, the NFL officially announced on Sunday that Maroon 5 will headline the Super Bowl LIII Halftime Show at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The Grammy-winning band will be joined by Atlanta native and one-half of Outkast, Big Boi, and Houston rapper and producer Travis Scott.

2. Blue Devils Beat the Buzzer

We mentioned earlier that Duke played without Zion in the second half of its win over FSU. Well, here’s how the game was won by yet another highly-rated Blue Devils freshman Cam Reddish.

3. There Goes Gurley

The Los Angeles Rams ran rampant over the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday night to advance to the NFC Championship Game. LA finished with 273 yards on the ground and held Dallas to 50.

4. Snowball Fight

The Kansas City Chiefs handled the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday afternoon, winning 31-13 as snow came down at Arrowhead Stadium. As if it wasn’t hard enough playing in the cold against the No. 1 seed in the NFL’s loudest stadium, the Colts also had to dodge snowballs:

5. Defending Champs Out

The No. 1 seed New Orleans Saints defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 20-14 on Sunday night, meaning we will not have a repeat Super Bowl champion. Philly's Nick Foles' magic ran out when his final pass went right through the hands of Alshon Jeffery and turned into a game-sealing interception for the Saints.