WATCH Spurs vs. Pelicans Live Stream Online: NBA 2016 Top Conference Rivals, Playoff Rankings

Basketball's back for the official 2015-2016 NBA season, so get ready, MstarsNews readers!

The San Antonio Spurs battle it out on the court against the New Orleans Pelicans in Week 18 of the regular season on Thursday, March 3 at 8:00 p.m. EST from the Smoothie King Center in Louisiana. Read on to see where fans can watch and listen to a live stream of the highly-anticipated Thursday evening basketball game online and catch up-to-date feeds and coverage on highlight plays and scores.

Now in mid-season, San Antonio maintains a very impressive top spot in Marc Stein's official NBA power rankings for ESPN.com, while New Orleans still lags a bit behind (out of a total 30 teams):

Spurs (2): "A 7-1 mark on the Rodeo Road Trip, which also featured the safe return from a calf issue for Kawhi Leonard and more big numbers from LaMarcus Aldridge, enabled the Spurs to become just the ninth team in history to reach 50 wins in fewer than 60 games. This is the first season in league history in which two teams have done that, with San Antonio up to a ridiculous 17 50-win seasons in a row."

Record: 51-9 (2nd in Western Conference).

Pelicans (20): "Don't make us talk about that toe injury -- during (ugh) warm-ups -- that cost us a dose of Anthony Davis vs. Karl-Anthony Towns on Saturday night. Let us stay focused on The Brow's week-old eruption for 59 and 20 that gave us seven different 50-point scorers this season... which means we need only one more to tie the single-season record from 1989-90." 

Record: 23-36 (12th in Western Conference).

Tonight's big game will be broadcasted live on you local sports TNT channel.

For fans who want to try out a free live stream (which may mean downloading a torrent), click here. Also try this or another option.

Also check out NBA TV for more schedules and game updates.

ESPN, ESPN Scoreboard, and NBA.com are all good sources for up-to-date game coverage and feeds.

More radio listening options for Pelicans and Spurs.

Official NHL team websites: Pelicans and Spurs

Enjoy the exciting b-ball game from New Orleans this evening, and always stick with MstarsNews for additional NBA gameday coverage this week. Which conference rival will snag the win tonight - will An Antonio maintain its awesome standing?