After exiting the postseason way too soon last season, the Milwaukee Bucks are back in the playoffs, back at Fiserv Forum and back in the hunt for the Larry O'Brien Trophy. 

The arduous journey back to the NBA mountaintop will first bring the Indiana Pacers to the Bucks in the first-round series. Like Milwaukee, the Pacers had a season of dramatic ups and downs – and of drama, period, with the Bucks, from knocking the hometown squad out of the In-Season Tournament to causing Giannis to freak out after allegedly snatching away his record-setting gameball. Add in the fact that our star-studded Milwaukee crew is going to get every team's best shot, and Bucks-Pacers should be a thrilling start to the postseason. 

Bragging rights are on the table – as well as a critical step toward reclaiming their NBA crown. So yeah, you're not going to want to miss a single dribble now that the games are as real as they can get.

Unable to snag the hottest tickets in town to watch the Bucks pummel the Pacers live and in person at Fiserv Forum? And all out of spots at any sports bar viewing parties? You can still obviously keep up with Giannis and company on your screens at home. But where exactly can you find the games? And where can you find them if you've cut the cord? Here's a viewing guide for watching the Bucks incinerate Indiana. 

Regular TV listings

For those who've kept the cord, finding the Bucks playoff games is easier than Giannis running a 3-on-1 breakaway. Here's the guide to where the Bucks-Pacers series will be showing on national television:

• Game 6 – Thursday, May 2 at 5:30 p.m. on TNT (and Max)
• Game 7 (if necessary) – Saturday, May 4 at TBD

For the hometown calls, Bally Sports Wisconsin will also broadcast the entire first round as well – particularly useful for any future games on the more limited NBA TV channel. And as for listening to the games, you can find the glorious sound of Giannis slam dunks at 620 WTMJ.

Streaming options

So you've cut the cord. You might be able to find a nice patio showing the game or on a TV at your local watering hole, but your best bet for taking in what will hopefully be a Indiana implosion courtesy of the Bucks will be streaming the game from the comfort of your lucky couch in the living room. Here are your best streaming options for following the Bucks in the first round from home.

Live television streaming services

So you've cut the cord – but you likely haven't cut yourself off from the world of sports and pop culture, which means you probably have a live television streaming service like Sling TV, YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, FuboTV or DirecTV Stream. (The other major streaming services – Netflix, Amazon Prime, Peacock and Apple TV+ – as popular as they are, are just starting to dip into live sports programming. The only one relevant during this playoff push is Max, where TNT will simulcast playoff games this year.)

For this first round matchup, the Bucks-Pacers are all over the cable map – but thankfully just about all of the live television streaming services offer most, if not all, of the networks needed to keep up. (FuboTV is the major outlier, as it doesn't offer TNT – which is scheduled to show at least one more of the current Bucks-Pacers matchups. It does, however, include Bally Sports Wisconsin.) Most of these streaming services cost at least $70 a month or more, while Sling's orange-and-blue plan – the one needed for most of the networks beyond NBA TV – is a little cheaper at just $55 per month. 

Things get a little more complicated, however, with any first round games coming on the more niche and limited NBA TV. All of the services except Hulu with Live TV offer the channel – albeit for an extra charge, in most cases. Sling TV, for instance, includes NBA TV but with an additional sports plan, costing an extra $15 a month; meanwhile DirecTV Stream requires the $109 Choice plan in order to get the basketball channel. FuboTV only includes the channel as part of its Elite and Premier packages – and you still need to buy an add-in costing $8 a month for it. YouTube TV is the only service that offers the channel built in with its standard package. Fans can also just subscribe directly to NBA TV on its website for $14.99 a month.

If you'd rather watch these first round games on Bally Sports Wisconsin, that channel is found on FuboTV and DirecTV Stream. Bally Sports also offers its own streaming service for $19.99 a month (complete with a seven-day free trial, wink wink). 

• Sling TV (orange-and-blue plan): ESPN and TNT for $55 a month, NBA TV with an additional $15 Sports Extra bundle 
• Hulu with Live TV: ESPN and TNT for $77 a month (NBA TV is unavailable)
• YouTube TV: ESPN, TNT and NBA TV for $73 a month
• FuboTV: ESPN and Bally Sports Wisconsin with the Pro plan for $79.99; NBA TV with the Elite plan for $89.99 or the Premier plan for $99.99, with an additional $8 with either plan (TNT is unavailable)
• DirecTV Stream: ESPN, TNT and Bally Sports Wisconsin for $80 a month; those three and NBA TV for $109 a month with its Choice package

A bonus reminder: These streaming services typically offer some kind of free trial period, so if you time it right – and make sure you remember to cancel before the cutoff date – you could possibly score a few playoff games without having to dig into your wallet even once. 

As for any future games on ABC, most of these services include the classic broadcast network ... except for Sling. But one of the best – and cheapest – ways to get those contests on your TV is simply with an antenna, which are very inexpensive, easy to find and require no monthly payments or subscriptions. No streaming silliness necessary!

TV channel apps/websites

So you've cut the cord ... but you probably have friends or family who haven't. We're not saying you SHOULD ask for their cable account info so you can log in and watch the games on these channels' streaming apps ... but if you were to do that, download the ESPN, TNT or Max apps onto your streaming device of choice (Roku, Chromecast, Apple TV or Amazon Fire stick), sign in using a borrowed provider username and password, and you should be able to watch away.

You can also watch on your computer screen by popping over to the networks' respective websites, then sign in using a valid provider username and password. For ESPN broadcasts, ESPN3 – the sports behemoth's online streaming hub – should provide access right smack-dab in the middle of the ESPN home page, with the same going for Game 6 on TNT (just on TNT's website or Max's home page instead). In both cases, you can just click on the front page's link to the game, plug in the requisite info and watch away. (Future ABC games may not even require all of that, just showing the game on its front page – no sign-ins needed.) Congrats, you now have access to the games – no cable necessary. Well, SOMEBODY'S cable is necessary. 

All of these approaches obviously work if you have cable as well. Just download the channels' apps or go to their websites, and punch in your info. But ... you also have cable. And maybe an antenna too. So, you can also just watch the games on television as usual.