Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Friday, December 19th

by Derek Farnsworth (Notorious) Last Updated 2025-12-19 23:21:56 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. 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 plays, 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 Friday!

I never check how I’m doing in DFS contests until all of the games are over. I’ll keep tabs on my players and generally have a good idea of where I stand, but I like to keep hope alive as long as possible. Almost every player in my lineup crushed last night, so I was feeling excited to open up DraftKings. Unfortunately, a score of 320 points couldn’t even sniff the cash line.

After a massive slate last night, we have a much more reasonable slate tonight. There are 5 games on the schedule. All 5 games are included on FanDuel’s main slate, while only the first 4 games are included on DraftKings’ main slate.

Let’s dive into the games.

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NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Friday, December 19th

Slate Overview

• 5-game main slate
  - 7:00 pm ET – Miami Heat at Boston Celtics
  - 7:00 pm ET – Philadelphia 76ers at New York Knicks
  - 7:30 pm ET – Chicago Bulls at Cleveland Cavaliers
  - 7:30 pm ET – San Antonio Spurs at Atlanta Hawks
  - 9:30 pm ET – Oklahoma City Thunder at Minnesota Timberwolves
• NBA DFS Optimizer
• NBA Starting Lineups
• NBA Injury Report
• 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)

We kick off tonight’s slate with the Heat, who draw a brutal matchup on the road against the Celtics. To make matters worse, they are playing on the second half of a back-to-back. Boston is ranked 30th in pace and 2nd in points allowed per game, which is why Miami’s team total is 7 points lower than their season average. We don’t have their initial injury report yet, but we expect them to at least be without Tyler Herro, Pelle Larsson, and Nikola Jovic.

Even with those three players out of the projections, there’s still not a single player on the Heat with a positive RGValue. However, there are a few intriguing tournament plays here. We’ll start with Norman Powell, who has scored at least 39 fantasy points in 4 of the last 6 games. There should be more minutes to go around on the wing, which makes Jaime Jaquez an interesting play as well. The problem is that he’s been held under 27 fantasy points in 8 of his last 9 games. Bam Adebayo has had a high floor this season and has had a couple of ceiling games recently. The Celtics aren’t the best rebounding team, which is a positive for Adebayo.

Boston Celtics (vs. MIA)

The Celtics have a pace-up matchup against the Heat, who have allowed the 10th-most points per game this season. I wouldn’t call Boston a strong offensive team (at least not on a per-game basis), but they have a team total of 121 points, which is 4 points higher than their season average. Other than Jayson Tatum, everyone should be available.

Payton Pritchard is a player that I rarely roster in DFS. When Boston is at full strength, Pritchard has a middling floor and the lack of a ceiling. Derrick White has been volatile, but at least he offers a high ceiling. He has topped 44 fantasy points in 3 of his last 5 games. Jaylen Brown is the Keyonte George of the Eastern Conference. He continues to crush on a nightly basis, and he continues to get overlooked in DFS. He has scored at least 50 fantasy points in 8 of his last 9 games and has a usage rate of 36% on the season. He’s my favorite target from the Celtics. Jordan Walsh and Neemias Queta are best suited as large-field tournament targets.

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