NBA DFS: May 19, 2022 Optimal Celtics vs. Heat DraftKings, FanDuel daily Fantasy basketball picks

Game 2 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals takes place on Thursday night between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat. Both teams are managing a few injuries, and for the Celtics, veteran big man Al Horford appears unlikely to clear league health and safety protocols in time to take the floor when play begins at 8:30 p.m. ET. In his absence, how much more attractive are Boston big men Robert Williams III and Daniel Theis when it comes to filling your NBA DFS lineups on Thursday?

After missing four playoff games ahead of Game 1 at Miami (knee), Williams returned to action with playoff highs for points (18) and rebounds (nine) to go with two blocks. Theis was also reasonably productive in his 19 minutes of action, and made 4-of-5 shots with four rebounds, but is that enough to consider him in Thursday’s NBA DFS player pool? Before you make your NBA DFS picks, be sure to check out the NBA DFS advice, player rankings, stacks and top daily Fantasy basketball picks from SportsLine’s Mike McClure.

McClure is a DFS professional with nearly $2 million in career winnings. He’s also a predictive data engineer at SportsLine who uses a powerful prediction model that simulates every minute of every game 10,000 times, taking factors like matchups, statistical trends and injuries into account.

This allows him to find the best NBA DFS values and create optimal lineups that he shares only over at SportsLine. They’re a must-see for any NBA DFS player.

On Wednesday, McClure listed Warriors superstar Stephen Curry as one of his top NBA DFS picks on both DraftKings and FanDuel. The result: Curry ended with the most Fantasy points for a single player on Wednesday. His 21 points, 12 rebounds, and four assists returned 47.5 points on DraftKings and 44.4 points on FanDuel. Anybody that included him in their lineups was well on the way to a profitable day.

Now, McClure has turned his attention to the Celtics vs. Heat Game 2 and locked in his top daily Fantasy basketball picks. You can only see them by heading to SportsLine.

Top NBA DFS picks for Thursday, May 19

One of McClure’s NBA DFS selections is Heat forward Jimmy Butler. Butler led McClure’s picks for Game 1 and he had his third 40-point game of the 2022 NBA playoffs when he dropped 41 points to go with nine rebounds, five assists and four steals. Over his last five playoff games, Butler has averaged 33.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists and two steals.

Perhaps more impressively, during that five-game stretch, Butler has made 56.2 percent of his attempts from the field. Miami’s backcourt is pretty beat up heading into Game 2, which means that Butler — who is already a ball-dominant player — should see maximum offensive usage on Thursday. Boston defensive stopper Marcus Smart is likely to play through a foot injury as well, which should give Butler that much more of an edge.

Another part of McClure’s optimal NBA DFS strategy includes rostering Celtics forward Jayson Tatum. Tatum led all Celtics players in Boston’s Game 1 loss against Miami, with 29 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals. In the playoffs this year, Tatum is averaging 28.3 points, 6.1 assists, 5.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game.

Tatum is a volume shooter, but over his last five games, he has been more efficient than he was to start the postseason. During that span, he’s made 47.5 percent of all his shots and 35.2 percent of his three-pointers. With a diminished Smart factored into the rotation, and with Derrick White (personal) out, even more of the offensive load should fall to Tatum, who should be happy to get even more shots off in Game 2.

How to set your NBA DFS lineups for Thursday, May 19

McClure is also targeting a player who could go off for massive numbers on Thursday because of a dream matchup. This pick could be the difference between winning your tournaments and cash games or going home with nothing. You can only see who it is here.

So who is DFS pro Mike McClure putting in his optimal NBA DFS lineups for Thursday? Visit SportsLine now to see optimal NBA DFS picks, rankings, advice, and stacks, all from a professional DFS player who has almost $2 million in career winnings, and find out.