Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Wednesday, May 1st
A daily fantasy sports OG, Notorious has been roaming the DFS streets ever since they were invented. He has racked up multiple live final seats and several six-figure tournament wins in his DFS career, and Noto will mix it up in all different types of contests. So, who better to walk you through the madness of an NBA DFS slate? Core Plays LIVE will zoom out on the slate as a whole, zoom in on the best NBA DFS picks, and constantly update as news breaks. Whether you are diving into the slate 5 hours before it starts or 5 minutes before it starts, you’ve come to the right place.
Happy Wednesday!
I’m coming off of my best slate of the playoffs. When Jarrett Allen was ruled out, I pivoted to Max Strus and Evan Mobley from the Cavaliers but didn’t stray from my core plays of Khris Middleton and Bobby Portis. A large portion of the field ended up going with Donovan Mitchell, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to target the Bucks. They were at home, they were without Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, and they had the best matchup on the slate.
As far as the outcomes of the games, it went about as perfectly as we could have hoped for. The Sixers avoided elimination with a win in New York and now head back home with a chance to tie up the series at three games apiece. Can you imagine a Game 7 in Madison Square Garden? The Cavaliers held serve at home and have forced the Magic to win at home in order to force a Game 7. And last but not least, the Bucks played their best game of the series to stave off elimination. I love playoff basketball.
We only have 2 games on the schedule tonight. With the exception of Game 2, the Heat have been thoroughly outplayed in this series. They will likely be enjoying the start of their offseason here in a few hours. The Mavericks and Clippers have each stolen a game on the road and now head back to Los Angeles for Game 5.
Let’s dive into the team previews.
NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Wednesday, May 1st
Slate Overview
- 2-game slate
- 7:30 PM ET – Miami Heat at Boston Celtics
- 10:00 PM ET – Dallas Mavericks at Los Angeles Clippers
- NBA DFS Injury Report: The Situation Room
- Scroll to FanDuel and DraftKings Rankings & Core Plays
News Updates
This section will be updated as injury news is released throughout the day.
Team Previews
Miami Heat (at BOS): The Heat caught lightning in a bottle in Game 2 but have been outscored by 54 points in the other 3 games. In order to stave off elimination, they will have to go on the road and beat the Celtics in Boston. I’m not a huge fan of their chances and neither are the sportsbooks. They come into the game as 13.5-point underdogs with an implied total of only 92.5 points. I don’t keep track of these things, but I’m 84% sure that’s the lowest team total that there has been all season. Jimmy Butler, Terry Rozier, and Josh Richardson have been out all series, and now Jaime Jaquez is out as well.
The question that we have to ask ourselves is whether or not the Heat can keep this game close enough for the starters to play their usual allotment of minutes. If you think the Celtics come out and win by 30 points, you probably don’t want a lot of exposure to the starting lineup of the Heat. However, there’s a lot of usage and minutes to go around thanks to all of these injuries. If you think the Heat can keep this game within 10-15 points, this is a good spot to target them in tournaments. Their ownership will naturally be lower than the other teams on the slate given the large spread of the game.
Tyler Herro has predictably struggled with efficiency in this matchup and has been held under 30 fantasy points in 3 of the 4 games in the series. While he has a path to 40+ minutes, it’s worth noting that his usage rate has actually gone down 3% in this series. He’s not a priority for me this evening. Caleb Martin is coming off of his best game of the series (37 fantasy points) and has played 37 minutes in back-to-back games. With Jaquez now out, Martin has a clear path to big minutes and a high usage rate. Haywood Highsmith is the likely starter in place of Jaquez. He can fill up the stat sheet and is the one starter who could see garbage time even if the Heat are down 25+ points.
I’m still tilting the lack of playing time for Nikola Jovic in Game 4. He was popular on that slate, so I expect many to be hesitant to go back to the well. In theory, he should see more minutes and potentially have a higher usage rate with Jaquez out. However, we can’t trust Erik Spoelstra’s rotation. Delon Wright and Patty Mills both had major roles in Game 4. I’d like to think Jovic would get some run in garbage time, but that could be a pipe dream. He’s viable, but I would only look his way in tournaments. Bam Adebayo had a huge outing in Game 4 and will have a huge role in this game as long as it’s competitive. I prefer him over Herro but still don’t view him as a priority given the large spread.
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