WATCH Rockets vs. Clippers Live Stream Online: NBA 2016 Conference Rankings, Playoff Updates

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

The Houston Rockets battle it out on the court against the Los Angeles Clippers in Week 12 of the regular season on Monday, January 18 at 10:30 p.m. EST from the Staples Center in LA. Read on to see where fans can watch and listen to a live stream of the highly-anticipated Monday evening basketball game online and catch up-to-date feeds and coverage on highlight plays and scores.

Now heading into mid-season, LA maintains an impressive top spot in Marc Stein's official NBA power rankings for ESPN.com, while Houston lags just a bit behind (out of a total 30 teams):

Clippers (6): "There's no question that the team Blake Griffin rejoins this week is humming offensively far better than it was when Blake went down with a torn quad. But it's not just us who made an issue of the Clips' favorable schedule during that long winning streak; Dan Woike from our old paper in sunny Orange County had this informative tweet listing all the big names L.A. avoided during its first nine Ws."

Record: 26-14 (4th in Western Conference).

Rockets (10): "The Rockets have been playing at a noticeably slower pace during their 6-1 uptick, but we know you'd probably prefer to hear something about James Harden. So here goes: For all the areas his numbers have suffered compared to last season, as extensively detailed by our ESPN Insider gang, this one jumped off the page: Harden averages 8.1 more PPG in wins (31.5) than he does in losses (23.4)."    

Record: 22-20 (7th in Western Conference).

Tonight's game will be broadcasted live on your local TNT sports 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 Rockets and Clippers.

Official NHL team websites: Rockets and Clippers.

Enjoy the exciting b-ball game from California this evening, and always stick with MstarsNews for additional NBA gameday coverage this week. Which top conference rival will snag the big win tonight?