Knicks vs. Spurs NBA injury report, odds, pick: New York on unusual 13-game against the spread winning streak on first-half line; San Antonio has 3 players in COVID protocols Tuesday

Some newbie bettors aren't even aware that you can wager on just the first-half spread in an NBA game (or second half or by quarter, etc.). Perhaps consider backing the New York Knicks at +0.5 points on the first-half NBA odds at William Hill Sportsbook for Tuesday's game at San Antonio, which will be playing the second of a back-to-back. The Knicks have covered the first-half spread in an astonishing 13 straight games, tied for the second-longest first-half ATS winning streak in the past eight seasons.

On the season, the Knicks are an NBA-best 25-9-1 on the first-half ATS line and outscoring their opponents by an average of 2.4 points in the first half. They enter on a three-game SU winning streak overall and outscored the Kings by 12 in the first half last Saturday, the Pacers by two on Saturday and the Pistons by 13 on Sunday.

San Antonio has been pretty good ATS on the first-half as well, going 18-12. However, the Spurs are 6-11 at home on the first-half ATS line and a league-best 12-1 on the road.

Injury-wise, the main question for New York is point guard Elfrid Payton, who has missed the past three with right hamstring soreness and is listed as doubtful. The Knicks are fine at point guard without Payton as they have both Derrick Rose and good-looking rookie Immanuel Quickley.

The Spurs played without Derrick White, Rudy Gay, Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson in Monday's 124-113 home overtime loss to Brooklyn – the Nets had lost 17 straight games in San Antonio. The first three are in COVID protocols; Johnson is recently out of those, but the Spurs wanted to give him at least one more game for conditioning purposes.

Coach Gregg Popovich could opt to sit LaMarcus Aldridge and/or DeMar DeRozan in the second of a back-to-back Tuesday, although if his team is so short-handed because of the protocols then Pop may not be able to do that.

Tuesday is the first meeting of the season between the Knicks and Spurs. San Antonio has won three straight in the series and the past six at home. This year, the Spurs are just 2-5 ATS in their past seven at home.

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times, and it returned over $5,000 in profit on its top-rated NBA picks last season. The model is also up almost $8,500 on top-rated NBA picks over the past two-plus seasons. Dating back to last season, it enters Week 11 of the 2020-21 NBA schedule on a stunning 85-52 roll on top-rated NBA picks against the spread. Anybody who has followed it has seen HUGE returns.