Picture yourself on a haunted house ride at your favorite amusement park. You’ll be spooked by pop-out faces, fluorescent lights, and ominous sounds, but you don’t know exactly how, where, or when they will hit you. Intellectually, you know there’s nothing to really fear and you’ll eventually finish the exhibit unscathed. But as soon as you enter that front door, those rational thoughts give way to base fears that you can’t escape. You scream. You yelp. You gasp. You lose your nerve. You’re scared shitless. And you forget, for a brief moment, that the ride is all an illusion.

Even with Giannis Antetokounmpo missing due to the joyous birth of his first son, Liam Charles Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks still mustered up a victory over the Sacramento Kings 123-111. Now, they have one last game awaiting before most of the team gets a prolonged break during All-Star Weekend.

Steve Stoute was hired by the Knicks to help change the perception of the franchise, but it sounds like his job should be to make sure things like his own interview on ESPN’s First Take don’t happen.

Reasonable minds can quibble about when, exactly, Jayson Tatum became the best player on the Boston Celtics. There’s no official date everyone will agree on, but let’s call Jan. 11, 2020, a safe compromise. That night the Celtics beat the New Orleans Pelicans by 35 points. Tatum, who on Monday was named the Eastern Conference’s Player of the Week, scored a career-best 41 on only 22 shots. He grabbed six rebounds, tallied four assists, stole the ball three times, and did not turn it over once.

The Memphis Grizzlies had to feel good about the state of their rebuild from the moment they hurdled six teams in the lottery to land the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. Memphis’ transition out of the Grit-n-Grind era was already in full swing at that point: Zach Randolph and Tony Allen were long gone, and Marc Gasol was sent to Toronto at the trade deadline. The next generation of the Grizzlies would be shaped by 30-year-old general manager Zach Kleiman, and soon 35-year-old head coach Taylor Jenkins. Securing the No. 2 pick was all Memphis needed for the second phase of its bold makeover.

USA Men’s Basketball has officially announced their preliminary roster for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and the Golden State Warriors are well represented. The 44-man roster includes three Warriors, and they’re exactly who you would expect: Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green.

There are a lot of storylines tonight as the Golden State Warriors host the Miami Heat at 7:30 p.m. PT on NBC Sports Bay Area.

From earlier this afternoon, the Raptors’ Paul Watson, their latest two-way contract player, has been named to the 2019-20 Midseason All-NBA G League roster. The squads for both conferences can be found here.

There were a few surprises to announce before Monday night’s Raptors vs. Timberwolves game. Kyle Lowry was in, Serge Ibaka was out, and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson was to get the start against the talented (and large) Karl-Anthony Towns. In theory, the new look T-Wolves, fresh off a satisfying streak-breaking win and welcoming aboard a healthy D’Angelo Russell, could have been considered the favourites. In theory. Instead, Toronto extended their win streak to 15 games — a new Canadian professional sports record — with a 137-126 victory. In retrospect: no surprise there.

Just before the Miami Heat’s current five-game road trip — one that Miami is currently 0-3 on — the Heat called up 2019 second-round pick KZ Okpala, who had been with the Sioux Falls Skyforce since December.