Have you done your taxes yet? If not, well, it might not be too late, but it’s probably too late. I don’t know what it is specifically about doing your taxes, but it feels like the most “adult” thing I do every year.
For the most part, adults are just children with responsibilities that don’t allow them to do the things they really want to be doing, but taxes stand out as the one part of being an adult that feels the least childlike. Not surprisingly, it’s also the one I’m most resistant toward doing. Like, it’s not even hard to do! I don’t do them! I have somebody who does them for me. All the pertinent forms and information I need come to me in the mail, and at that point, the only thing I’m required to do is get them to my accountant. That involves putting the documents in a package my accountant sends me specifically to send back to him, and I still put that off until the last minute.
Seriously, my accountant sent me the package in January. I got my W-2 and all that stuff in early February. I didn’t send it in until three days ago.
- Paul George will miss tonight’s play-in game against the Pelicans.
- A look at how Jackie Robinson’s time in the Negro Leagues shaped his path to Major League Baseball.
- A Cowboys player is expected to be interviewed in connection to an ongoing murder investigation.
- One of the top remaining NFL free agents is off the board.
Now let’s have fun with our tax refund.
All times Eastern, and all odds via Caesars Sportsbook
The Hot Ticket
Hawks at Cavs, 7:30 p.m. | TV: ESPN
Latest Odds: Cleveland Cavaliers +2
- Key Trend: The Hawks are 14-27 ATS on the road this season.
- The Pick: Cavs +2 (-110)
We took the Hawks to cover against the Hornets Wednesday night, and it was a breeze. I told you all about how Trae Young would shine in a spotlight game, how well the Hawks have been playing recently, and how much better the Hawks are at home. Do you remember what I told you about the Hawks on the road, though? Yeah, it’s not nearly as nice!
This season, the Hawks are 24-18 ATS at home and a horrific 14-27 ATS on the road. Now, they’re slightly better as road favorites at 8-9 ATS, but one of those nine losses was as a road favorite against the Cavs at the beginning of the season. What matters more to me than those trends is Atlanta’s defensive performance. While the Hawks aren’t good defensively anywhere, at home, they have a defensive rating of 112.7 (22nd in the league). On the road, that number jumps to 114.8 (also 22nd). What’s even more worrisome is the offensive drop-off the Hawks experience, as they have an offensive rating of 117.7 (2nd) at home compared to only 113.0 on the road.
Jonathan Coachman is joined by Mike McClure, PropStarz and John Bollman to dish out Friday’s best bets. Download and follow The Early Edge on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Any guesses as to which team has a top-five defensive rating at home this season? That’s right, the Cleveland Cavaliers. That shouldn’t be a surprise considering Cleveland is one of the best defensive teams in the league, but they do perform better in front of the home crowd, and while they’re banged up, I have more faith in the Cavs defense than the Hawks offense in this spot.
Of course, if you’re following my advice and taking Cleveland tonight, we must live in fear of Trae Young going supernova, but losses are seldom pretty no matter how they come, and Cleveland is the right play.
Here’s what SportsLine is saying about the game: The Projection Model thinks I’m a genius, as it sees the Cavs covering 63% of the time tonight.
The Picks
MLB
Rays at White Sox, 7:10 p.m | TV: Apple TV+
Latest Odds: Under 8
The Pick: Under 8 (-110) — Full disclosure, I had already written up why you should take the under in tonight’s game between the Clippers and Pelicans when the Paul George news hit and changed everything. Thankfully, I had this play waiting on deck, and the only reason I didn’t include it originally was for the sake of brevity. There’s plenty of value here as it’s a pitching matchup that should be difficult on both teams tonight.
Dylan Cease and Drew Rasmussen are different kinds of pitchers. Cease is a high-strikeout rate guy who can have his control get away from him at times, and gives up a lot of fly balls but misses plenty of bats and doesn’t allow much hard contact. Rasmussen allows a lot more contact, but it’s overwhelmingly of the groundball variety, even if it’s hard. The man just doesn’t allow many home runs, which is a good thing against a White Sox lineup capable of hitting them in bunches. It won’t be a 1-0 game, but it should finish comfortably under eight barring a cavalcade of errors.
Key Trend: The under is 7-3 in Tampa’s last 10 games as an underdog.
Soccer
Manchester City vs. Liverpool, Saturday, 10:30 a.m | TV: ESPN+
The Pick: Over 2.5 (-135) — It feels like it was only a week ago that I wrote about these teams playing and told you to take the over. And that’s because it was! While I don’t typically include picks for competitions like the FA Cup, I couldn’t pass it up, considering it’s Manchester City and Liverpool. Plus, as I went over last week, there’s a trend we have to exploit every time these teams meet.
They score goals and a lot of them! Last week’s match finished 2-2, so now we’ve seen an average of 3.11 goals scored in the last nine meetings. Seven of those nine have finished with at least three goals scored, while the two that didn’t were a scoreless draw in 2018 and a 1-1 final in the meaningless Community Shield. You might fear that this game could be more like the Community Shield seeing as how it’s not a league match or a Champions League battle, but the FA Cup is important to both clubs, as are winning every trophy you can get your hands on. This late in the competition, neither one of these teams will take it easy. Especially against the other.
Key Trend: The last nine meetings have averaged 3.11 goals.
Celtic vs. Rangers, Sunday, 9 a.m | TV: ESPN+
The Pick: Celtic (+110) — That’s right, I started you off with the FA Cup, and now I’m bringing you Scottish football! And it’s not even league play; it’s the William Hill Scottish Cup! But it’s also Celtic and Rangers, the two dominant forces in Scottish football, and it’s a line we can exploit. First of all, while Rangers won the first meeting of the season 1-0 back in August, Celtic dominated the last two matches, outscoring Rangers 5-1. It’s a team that has improved tactically and talent-wise as the season has progressed, and Rangers haven’t been quite the same since Steven Gerrard left to take the Aston Villa job.
Second, Rangers are probably exhausted. Rangers played in the Europa League Thursday night and needed 30 minutes of extra time against Braga to move on. That means this will be Rangers’ fifth match in 17 days, and while these two might be the giants of Scotland, they don’t have the same squad depth the top teams in other leagues have. Meanwhile, Celtic will have had a whole week’s worth of rest.
Key Trend: Since Steven Gerrard left Rangers, Celtic have outscored Rangers 5-1 in two matches.
🔒 SportsLine Pick of the Day: Sportsline’s Max Gorenstein is a beast when it comes to betting NBA props, and he’s shared his favorites for tonight’s two play-in games.
Tonight’s Parlay
Tonight we have a very simple MLB parlay. It’s only two legs, but it has a healthy payout of +150.
- Blue Jays (-185)
- Brewers (-160)
