Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Monday, May 6th
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 Monday!
Other than the snow that is currently on the ground here in Utah (it’s May!!), I had a tremendous weekend. My dad and his wife went to the Kentucky Derby a couple of years ago and have been big fans ever since. They had everyone over and had a bunch of contests for the race. All the kids got to pick a couple of horses to win, and if they picked the top three, they won money. Naturally, my little one picked Mystic Dan. He was wearing his 1st place ribbon and flaunting the $25 that he won the rest of the night.
On Sunday, we finally got the green light from all of our significant others (more on this soon, I finally have a date lined up) to drive across state lines to the nearest casino and cash the tickets we won from the first round of March Madness. We spent a few hours at the craps table and came home with more money than we started with, which is always a rarity. On the drive home, we got to sweat the final round of THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson. It took some luck at the end, but I hit the Taylor Pendrith outright at +10000. If you ever want to tail the golf picks, they are posted weekly on ScoresAndOdds and in my PGA Core Plays article. I hope some of you hit the Pendrith long-shot winner as well.
As far as the NBA weekend, we saw the Wolves pick up a huge win against the Nuggets in Game 1. Anthony Edwards is different. I don’t love making player comparisons from different eras, but he has so many MJ qualities that it’s hard to ignore. He’s not only great on both ends of the floor but a great interview as well. I always make a note to listen to his presser after the games. The Cavaliers looked dead in the water in the 1st half against the Magic in their Game 7 but rallied back to get the win at home. They now advance to the second round to face the Celtics, which doesn’t feel like much of a reward.
We have 2 games on the schedule tonight, so let’s dive into the team previews.
NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Monday, May 6th
Slate Overview
- 2-game slate
- 7:30 PM ET – Indiana Pacers at New York Knicks
- 10:00 PM ET – Minnesota Timberwolves at Denver Nuggets
- NBA DFS Injury Report: The Situation Room
- Scroll to FanDuel and DraftKings Rankings & Core Plays
News Updates
Indiana Pacers (at NYK): We kick off the slate with two of my favorite teams to watch — the Pacers and Knicks. Indiana got through the first round by beating the Giannis Antetokounmpo-less Bucks, but we can’t hold that against them. They have a very different matchup here in the second round. The Pacers and Knicks are polar opposites when it comes to their style of play. The Pacers like to push the tempo and are one of the most efficient offenses in the league, while the Knicks like to slow the game down and are one of the best defensive teams in the league. From a macro view, we can give a small downtick to Indiana and a small uptick to New York when it comes to expected fantasy production in this series. The Pacers come into tonight’s game as 6-point underdogs and have a team total that is 17.6 points below their season average.
The style of play isn’t the only difference between these two teams — the Knicks have a very tight rotation where all of their starters play huge minutes, while the Pacers typically have a 9-man rotation where the starters aren’t asked to play as much. In the first round against the Bucks, Pascal Siakam led the team in minutes per game at only 37.8. It’s worth noting that there were some blowouts in that series, but we don’t have anyone on the Pacers projected for more than 39 minutes tonight. Siakam is my preferred spend on the Pacers, although he’ll likely draw coverage from OG Anunoby, who is widely known as one of the best defenders in the league. Tyrese Haliburton is dealing with back spasms, he only topped 41 fantasy points one time in the first round, and he averaged 12 fewer fantasy points per game during the regular season when Siakam was in the lineup. I love Haliburton as much as anyone, but he might be my third-favorite point guard play from this game alone.
Andrew Nembhard and Aaron NeSmith were great lineup fillers in the first round. They are cheap, they both average minutes in the 30s, and they can fill up the stat sheet. This is a significantly worse matchup, and I’ll like them a bit more once the series shifts to Indiana, but I have no issue using either in DFS tonight. Obi Toppin was incredible in the first round, averaging 1.17 DK / 1.13 FD points per minute. It’s hard to expect that efficiency to continue, but perhaps he has earned himself a bigger role moving forward. T.J. McConnell is the opposite of Nembhard and NeSmith in that he is best suited in tournaments given his wide range of outcomes. He’s capable of breaking the slate or ruining your lineup. Myles Turner is the one player on the Pacers that feels underpriced. He’s the easiest way to get exposure to Indiana in Game 1.
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