Nets vs. Knicks Wednesday NBA injury report, spread, odds: Kyrie Irving sitting despite road game, RJ Barrett out again

It's well known that Brooklyn Nets star point guard Kyrie Irving can play in road games but not at home because of a COVID vaccine mandate in New York City. Well, that mandate obviously includes the New York Knicks and their games, so Irving will miss tonight's trip to Madison Square Garden. The struggling Knicks remain without second-leading scorer RJ Barrett but are 3.5-point favorites at Caesars Sportsbook. Click here for expert pick. 

Some other major cities are ending mandates, so perhaps Irving will be able to play in all games soon, but barring that he won't be able to go until Feb. 26 at Milwaukee. In a way, it almost benefits the Nets to NOT have home-court advantage in any playoff series because if the NYC mandate stands through the postseason, they would have Irving for potentially more games in each series (four of seven on the road) unless of course facing the Knicks.

Brooklyn did end an 11-game losing streak Monday in the Nets debuts of Seth Curry and Andre Drummond. Curry had 23 points and Drummond 11 points and nine rebounds in a 109-85 rout of the Kings.

New York has been a massive disappointment at 25-33 and sits 2.5 games out of the final play-in tournament spot in the East, and there are starting to be rumors that Coach Tom Thibodeau could be in some trouble. Thibs is knowing for playing his key guys way too many minutes, and he had Barrett (18.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 2.6 apg) on the floor near the end of a 17-point loss in Denver last week. Barrett then sprained his ankle and hasn't played since. He was the only starter in the game for either team.

"You don't work backwards," Thibodeau said of leaving Barrett out there. "There's different points. You look at the score and the time. And if you make a run, then you take a shot at it. So that's what we did."

Also out for New York tonight is center Nerlens Noel. The Knicks have had many bad losses this season but few worse than blowing an 11-point third-quarter lead Monday at home to the tanking Thunder and falling 127-123 in OT. One bright spot of late has been Julius Randle, who is averaging 27.7 points this month. He is set at Over/Under 24.5 points tonight.

Brooklyn has won the past four in this series. The teams have played once this season, way back on Nov. 30 in Brooklyn and the Nets prevailed 112-110 behind a combined 61 points from Durant and James Harden. 

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