Core Plays LIVE: NBA DFS Picks for Thursday, March 28th
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 Thursday!
After the madness of last night’s slate, I am looking forward to tonight’s quiet 2-game slate. I’m not looking forward to the 4-hour drive home today, but the trip was worth it. We finally got away from the snow and got to swim for a few hours with friends. Thursdays are always one of my favorite days because a new golf tournament starts. On top of that, it’s MLB Opening Day, and then we get to sit back and watch the Sweet 16 games of the NCAA Tournament. Life is good.
I doubt many will focus too much of their attention on NBA DFS, so this could be a good night to get away from the optimal lineups in tournaments. Many playing will blindly trust the optimizers, so there could be a lot of similar-looking lineups. As far as the slate goes, there are only 2 games on the schedule. The Hawks are the only team playing in the front or back half of a back-to-back. Let’s dive into the slate.
NBA DFS Top Picks: Core Plays LIVE for Thursday, March 28th
Slate Overview
- 2-game slate
- 7:30 PM ET – Boston Celtics at Atlanta Hawks
- 8:00 PM ET – Milwaukee Bucks at New Orleans Pelicans
- Teams on the front end of a back-to-back: None
- Teams on the back end of a back-to-back: Hawks
- 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 ATL): The Celtics have won 9 of their last 10 games and have 7 fewer losses than any other team in the NBA. We’ve already seen them start to rest players and should expect more of that moving forward. Tonight they travel to Atlanta to take on the Hawks, who are 5th in pace and 26th in defensive rating. The Celtics are listed as 16-point favorites and have a team total that is nearly identical to their season average. On the injury front, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, and Xavier Tillman are all listed as questionable. If Holiday is out, Derrick White and Payton Pritchard are the likely beneficiaries. If Horford and/or Tillman are out, we would see minutes open up in the frontcourt. As it stands right now, with all three of them in the projections, Jayson Tatum is the only player on the team with a positive RGValue. Luckily, we’ll get an update on these injuries well before lineup lock.
Atlanta Hawks (vs. BOS): The Hawks picked up a win last night and have won 5 of their last 10 games. They don’t have a ton to play for the rest of the way but can catch the Bulls for the 9th seed in the play-in tournament. This would at least grant them a homecourt game in the first round of the tournament. They have a tough draw tonight against the Celtics, who are 4th in rebounding rate and 2nd in defensive rating. The Hawks are massive underdogs and have a team total that is 14.2 points below their season average. The low total has as much to do with injuries as the matchup, as Trae Young, Jalen Johnson, Saddiq Bey, and Onyeka Okongwu are all expected to miss tonight’s game. If the Hawks are able to keep this competitive, we have to like the chances of Dejounte Murray, Clint Capela, and Bogdan Bogdanovic paying off their respective salaries. The problem is that keeping this game close isn’t all that likely. If we do see a blowout, this could benefit players like Bruno Fernando, Vit Krejci, and Garrison Mathews.
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