Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Monday, May 12th

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2025-05-12 15:42:28 Premium Content Part of the product NBA DFS

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 has long been one of the top NBA DFS minds in the industry. On weekends, Taylor Smith takes the reins. Their Core Plays LIVE article 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, Core Plays LIVE has everything you need for your DraftKings and FanDuel lineups.

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. We are nearing the end of the second round of the playoffs, which means we are nearing the end of 2-game slates. With that said, we are guaranteed to have at least 3 more 2-game slates. If Cleveland can win at home, it will guarantee another 2-game slate.

It’s also an exciting week on the PGA DFS front, as the second major of the year is upon us. The PGA Championship kicks off Thursday morning at Quail Hollow Golf Club, which is one of my favorite venues on the PGA TOUR. Make sure to check out all of our great coverage for the major.

NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Monday, May 12th

• 2-game main slate
  - 7:30 PM ET – Boston Celtics at New York Knicks
  - 10:00 PM ET – Minnesota Timberwolves at Golden State Warriors
• NBA DFS Optimizer
• NBA Starting Lineups
• NBA Injury Report
• Scroll to FanDuel and DraftKings Rankings & Core Plays

Editor’s Note: Looking for more places to play? Check out our Underdog Fantasy promo code and PrizePicks promo code, two of the best DFS apps available today.

News Updates

This section will be updated as injury news is released throughout the day.

Team Previews

Boston Celtics (at NYK)

The Celtics picked up a much-needed win in New York in Game 3 the other night. They now have a chance to even the series up and steal back home-court advantage with a win in Game 4. They are listed as 6.5-point favorites and have the highest team total on the board at 108 points.

Jrue Holiday has gotten progressively worse in this series in terms of his fantasy output. While that’s not very encouraging, he’s cheap and should see 30+ minutes at low ownership. He’s topped 25 fantasy points in 3 of his 5 playoff games. Derrick White has had a great series so far, averaging just under 40 fantasy points per game. Jaylen Brown has only topped 40 fantasy points one time all postseason, and it was in a game Jayson Tatum missed. I’ll continue to be underweight on Brown.

As for Tatum, he offers the highest floor/ceiling combo of any player from the first game. He has scored at least 46 fantasy points in every playoff game so far and has had two 65+ fantasy point outings. The question is whether we should prioritize him over stars from the second game. Kristaps Porzingis has had a limited role in each of the last 4 games. His price point is cheap enough to look at in tournaments, but the Celtics are rolling with Al Horford at the moment. Horford is coming off his best game of the series, as he put up 33 fantasy points in 34 minutes of action.

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