Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Tuesday, February 25th

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2025-02-25 23:31:43 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 Tuesday!

It was a scramble of a slate last night. I originally planned to use Kyle Filipowski alongside Brice Sensabaugh in my DraftKings lineup, but Nikola Vucevic was a late scratch. I didn’t feel great about any superstar outside of Nikola Jokic and wanted to jam in Zach Collins, so I didn’t end up having Filipowski in my lineup. While he ended up crushing, my roster construction led me away from all of the Sixers, who were all chalky and all busted in an elite matchup against the Bulls. It ended up being a nice slate, but it felt more like good fortune than anything else given the quick decisions that had to be made right before lock.

As noted yesterday, my essentially brother-in-law (he’s married to my girlfriend’s sister) coaches a high school basketball team in Salt Lake. My cousin plays for a high school team in Southern Utah. The teams aren’t in the same division, but they are both in the 3A State Tournament. They both won their games yesterday and are facing each other tonight. My family is going, and my girlfriend’s family is going, so it should be fun to have my worlds collide. The game starts at 9:00 PM local time. We are taking our two boys, so they are pumped to stay up well past bedtime. I’m not sure who to root for, but hey, at least one of them will reach the final four of the tournament.

If you are itching to dive into the games, feel free to scroll down. If you could use a laugh, keep reading. I’ve always been a self-deprecating person, especially when it comes to my lack of skills in building or fixing things, so I don’t mind sharing my failures. Last night was nothing short of an utter disaster. As I’ve mentioned, we wanted to buy a new house but are now stuck in my current house for a little while, so we are painting every room, installing new lights, doing laminate flooring in a couple of rooms, and a bunch of other smaller projects. I’m still not very handy, but it’s been fun learning along the way. We decided to take down the cabinet and the old table in the laundry room and install some floating shelves instead. Here’s where the fun starts…

We decided to do a shorter shelf that was centered right above the washer and dryer and then a longer shelf above it that essentially covered the entire length of the wall. When I installed the bracket for the smaller shelf, I mistakenly measured and centered it off the length of the room and not the washer and dryer. No big deal, right? I just had to patch the wall and put in some new anchors. After the first mistake, I was diligent in measuring the second bracket so it would align exactly with the first bracket. Unfortunately, I forgot to account for the different lengths of the shelves.

Frustration was quickly mounting. I patched those holes and started to put in new anchors for the longer shelf. While I was doing that, one of the screws wouldn’t go in, so I put a little weight on the smaller shelf for leverage. Whoops, that took out half the already installed anchors in the wall. Then a bit later as I was moving the longer shelf, I accidentally clipped the light fixture above. It’s an old-school light with a little glass dome around it. I was counting my lucky stars that it didn’t break. However, as I used the hammer for something two minutes later, the dome part of the light fell and shattered into 200 pieces. Sweet. The shelves aren’t as sturdy as I would like them to be, and they took way longer than expected, but at least the job is done.

It’s nights like those that remind me how grateful I am to talk and write about sports for a living. Hallelujah!

As for tonight’s NBA slate, we have 7 games on the schedule. All 7 games are featured on the main slates for both FanDuel and DraftKings.

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 sites available today.

NBA DFS Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Tuesday, February 25th

• 7-game main slate
  - 7:00 PM ET – Boston Celtics at Toronto Raptors
  - 7:30 PM ET – Cleveland Cavaliers at Orlando Magic
  - 8:00 PM ET – Phoenix Suns at Memphis Grizzlies
  - 8:00 PM ET – Milwaukee Bucks at Houston Rockets
  - 8:00 PM ET – San Antonio Spurs at New Orleans Pelicans
  - 10:00 PM ET – Dallas Mavericks at Los Angeles Lakers
  - 10:00 PM ET – Charlotte Hornets at Golden State Warriors
• Front end of a back-to-back: Celtics, Raptors, Rockets, Spurs
• Back end of a back-to-back: Hornets
• NBA DFS Optimizer
• NBA Starting Lineups
• 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

Boston Celtics (at TOR)

We start the slate with the Celtics, who draw an elite matchup on the road against the Raptors. They come into the game as 11-point favorites and have the 4th-highest team total on the board. Jrue Holiday and Luke Kornet have already been ruled out, while Al Horford is listed as questionable.

I rarely force anyone from the Celtics into my rosters on these large slates, but Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kristaps Porzingis all have positive RGValues in LineupHQ. It’s a solid matchup, Holiday is out, and the game being in Toronto could help keep it from turning into a blowout. All 3 players are intriguing tournament options.

Toronto Raptors (vs. BOS)

The Raptors have a tough draw against the Celtics, who are 26th in pace and top 5 in 3-point percentage allowed, points allowed, and defensive rating. In addition to being large underdogs, the Raptors have a team total that is 3 points lower than their season average. Brandon Ingram is still out, while Jakob Poeltl is listed as questionable.

There’s not much that sticks out from a DFS standpoint. There’s not a single player on the Raptors with a positive RGValue or with an Opto% above 10%. If you are only building 1 lineup or even a handful of lineups, I suggest focusing your attention on the other teams.

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