Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Monday, May 5th

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2025-05-05 17:16:46 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 enjoyed their weekend. We were fortunate enough to have two Game 7s over the weekend, but they both were blowouts from the jump. For whatever reason, it’s pretty rare to have a competitive Game 7. With the First Round officially in the books, here’s a quick rundown of the four Second-Round matchups:

• Thunder vs. Nuggets
• Wolves vs. Warriors
• Cavaliers vs. Pacers
• Celtics vs. Knicks

The Second Round got underway last night, as the Pacers were able to pull off the upset against the Cavaliers in Cleveland. We have two more Game 1s tonight, as the Celtics host the Knicks and the Thunder host the Nuggets.

For those wondering, we are officially 3 weeks away from the due date. It’s baby month!

It’s a good day. As always, thanks for joining me. Let’s break down tonight’s 2-game slate.

NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Monday, May 5th

• 2-game main slate
  - 7:00 PM ET – New York Knicks at Boston Celtics
  - 9:30 PM ET – Denver Nuggets at Oklahoma City Thunder
• 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

New York Knicks (at BOS)

The Knicks were fortunate to get out of the First Round in their matchup against the Knicks. They won the close games and may have gotten the more generous side of officiating. Their reward is a Second-Round matchup against the defending champs. The betting markets aren’t giving the Knicks much of a chance, as they are +550 to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. They enter Game 1 as 9-point underdogs and have the lowest team total of the slate at 102 points.

While the Knicks have a brutal matchup and a low team total, they have the tightest rotation on either side of the Mississippi. We have all 5 of their starters projected for at least 38 minutes, and this is only Game 1. As DFS players, we have to love Tom Thibodeau. Jalen Brunson is my favorite target from the Knicks, as he had a massive 33% usage rate in the First Round. He averaged 27 points per game against Boston during the regular season.

Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby are priced similarly, and both averaged between 30-32 fantasy points in the First Round. They should both push for 40 minutes tonight and are viable lineup fillers. Josh Hart can fill up the stat sheet and has topped 34 fantasy points in the last 4 games against the Pistons. Karl-Anthony Towns is extremely cheap and averaged 40 fantasy points per game against the Celtics in the regular season. His usage rate has come down during the playoffs, but this could be a great buy-low spot. For now, we can fully fade New York’s bench.

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