Game Preview: San Antonio Spurs vs. New York Knicks

Both the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks begin their 2019-20 season tonight in the AT&T Center at 7:30 p.m. CT. Under head coach Gregg Popovich, the Spurs are an astonishing 20-2 in season openers. Last season, the Spurs finished 48-34 in the regular season before losing in the first round of the 2019 NBA playoffs to the Denver Nuggets in seven games. The Knicks, on the other hand, had the worst record in the entire NBA last season at 17-65. 

Betting Lines: San Antonio Spurs vs. New York Knicks

Vegas expects the Spurs to easily beat the Knicks, as San Antonio is a 10.5 point favorite. With the over/under at 214, Vegas sees the Spurs winning 112-102.

Considering Popovich’s mastery in season openers and the fact that the home crowd should be louder than usual do to the Marcus Morris fiasco, betting for the Spurs to cover 10.5 point spread looks to be the play here.

The over/under assumes that the Spurs defense will be sturdy coming out of the gates. In the preseason, the defense struggled more than it excelled. With that in mind, the over looks like the more tempting bet, especially because the Knicks will also likely struggle on defense.

Fantasy Basketball Considerations: San Antonio Spurs vs. New York Knicks

For those who play NBA DFS at FanDuel or DraftKings, here is a Spurs sleeper for tonight and an overrated Spurs player. 

Fantasy Basketball Sleeper: Bryn Forbes

Bryn Forbes was San Antonio’s best player in preseason. He has the starting shooting guard position locked up and appears to be in line to play a lot of minutes. Forbes is definitely a value pick for NBA DFS. It wouldn’t be surprising at all for him to pump in 15-plus points, with 20-plus a definite possibility.

Overrated in Fantasy Basketball: Derrick White

While Forbes lit it up in preseason, Derrick White struggled mightily. While he’s sure to bounce back at some point this season, he shouldn’t be on a fantasy basketball roster right now. He’s backing up Dejounte Murray at point guard. His minutes will be further limited because White and Murray never played together at the same time during the preseason.

San Antonio Spurs Injury Report

No player on the Spurs is officially on the injury report. That said, Rudy Gay and DeMar DeRozan missed some time near the end of preseason with nagging injuries, although they both played in the preseason finale. Of the two, Gay is more likely to see his minutes limited a bit to make sure he’s completely healthy.