WATCH Heat vs. Hawks Online Live Stream: NBA 2016 Eastern Rivals & Ranking Updates

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

The Miami Heat battle it out on the court against the Atlanta Hawks in Week 16 of the regular season on Friday, February 19 at 8:00 p.m. EST from the Philips Arena in Georgia. Read on to see where fans can watch and listen to a live stream of the highly-anticipated Friday evening basketball game online and catch up-to-date feeds and coverage on highlight plays and scores.

Following this month's monumental All-Star weekend, Atlanta maintains a rather impressive top spot in Marc Stein's official NBA power rankings for ESPN.com, while Miami lags just a bit behind (out of a total 30 teams):

Hawks (8): "The Hawks were 43-11 coming out of the 2015 All-Star break, having sent a league-high four of their players to the big midseason showcase. Twelve months later, an entire league is waiting to see how many players from Atlanta's core four -- Paul Millsap, Al Horford, Kyle Korver and Jeff Teague -- are still Hawks after Thursday's trade deadline. As they say: What a difference a year makes."

Record: 31-24 (4th in Western Conference).

Heat (12): "The Heat got through that brutal stretch of schedule in which they were forced to play 14 of 16 games with a passable mark of 8-8. But so many questions still loom... about Chris Bosh's health, about the way Dwyane Wade and Goran Dragic mesh in the Miami backcourt and, of course, about what to do with the Hassan Whiteside conundrum. Stressful (and scary) times on South Beach."

Record: 29-24 (5th in Eastern Conference).

Tonight's big game will be broadcasted live on local sports channels FSSE and SUN.

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 Hawks and Heat.

Official NHL team websites: Hawks and Heat.

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