Conor Allen

The Suns travel to Los Angeles with a 3-2 series lead to take on the Clippers in a Western Conference finals elimination game. The Clippers' Tyronn Lue is 10-2 in elimination games as a coach. The Clippers will be without star froward Kawhi Leonard, who is still down with a right knee sprain. The Suns enter as 1-point favorites. Both California and Arizona get a lot of sunshine. You get it. This one will be close, and ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN.  The Suns had a chance to close out the series Monday in Phoenix, but lost 116-102. To avoid a Game 7, Phoenix will have to win this one at the Staples Center, where they are 2-14 in their last 16 games against the Clippers. Hmmmmmmmmm...Ty Lue is 10-2 in elimination games. Phoenix is 2-14 on the road against LA in their last 16. Not sure if I'd want to bet the money line in this one. But before we give up on Phoenix for tonight, remember Devin Booker. Yes, if you're a fan of basketball you'd like to see 36-year old Chris Paul finally ...

Atlanta travels to Milwaukee Wednesday for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bucks are undefeated at home this postseason, but it took a Game 7 road win in Brooklyn for them to advance and upset the Nets. It also took Kevin Durant's clown shoes, Kyrie Irving and James Harden injuries, an overtime airball and a lot of grit for Milwaukee to continue their playoff journey. This is a team growing up before our very eyes and moving past blowing a 2-0 lead to Toronto in 2019's Eastern finals and last year's disappointing second round exit at the hands of Miami. Congratulations to the Bucks. Now they get to deal with Trae Young and the surging Atlanta Hawks.   It's hard to believe Atlanta was 14-20 and in 11th place at the beginning of March. But since firing Lloyd Pierce, the Hawks have gone 27-11 under new coach Nate McMillen to earn their first playoff birth since 2017. Atlanta's star third year guard Young is averaging 29.1 PPG in the postseason and is quick...

It's time for the Nets to close it out against Milwaukee Thursday. Right? The Nets overcame a 17-point deficit to take a 3-2 series lead in Tuesday's 114-108 win. Kevin Durant dropped 49 points. Grabbed 17 rebounds. Dished 10 assists. Blocked two shots. Played three games of chess at once and won them all. Actually left the building briefly to play a few innings of baseball for the Yankees. After the game, Giannis Antetokounpo called Durant the greatest player in the world. OK fine, we get it. Durant is here and it's his time. But slow down. The Bucks are actually three-point favorers tonight at home.  Durant and the Nets have been playing both basketball and a game of injury musical chairs this year in the regular and postseasons. Their most recent losses to injury have included James Harden going down with a hamstring strain in Game 1 and Kyire Irving suffering a sprained ankle in Game 4. Irving remains sidelined, but Harden is back after playing 46 minutes on Tuesday. Bu...

Kyle Shanahan got existential Monday when asked if current 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garropolo would be on the roster after Thursday's draft. "I can't guarantee that anybody in the world will be alive Sunday, so I can't guarantee that anybody will be on our roster Sunday," the third year head coach said.  Woah, excuse me. Let me step in here. Hi, I'm Conor Allen, longtime California resident and 49ers fan. I can explain what's happening here in the Bay Area. First of all Kyle is...stressed. What happened is, the 49ers did something this offseason. They traded up from the 12th overall pick to number three in a deal with Miami on 3/26. The Dolphins got the 12th pick from San Francisco, plus a third-round selection and two first-round picks in 2022. The whole thing was initially very exciting for everybody in the Bay Area and the 49ers organization. A pick in the top five! The 49ers were so close to No.1 they could smell the inside of Trever Lawrence's wris...

Denver (38-20) travels to San Francisco Friday to take on Steph Currys, I mean the Golden State Warriors (29-30). The teams have split their series so far this season, with the Warriors winning their last meeting 116-107 on 4/12.  Anybody know what Steph Curry's been up to lately? He's just been playing a little basketball. Curry is averaging 39 points per game in his last 10 games on 53.5% shooting and recently passed Bradley Beal as the NBA's leading scorer at 31.1 points per game. The Dubs have gone 6-4 during that stretch while shooting 48.4% from the field as a team.  The Warriors aren't expected to make a deep playoff run, but nobody wants to see this team tank it with Curry playing at such a historically high level. Warriors' optimists are even predicting that the Dubs make it into the playoffs through the play-in and upset their first opponent to advance to the second round.  Let's slow all that down for a second. Golden State has some injury issues. Roo...

The Nets (37-17) take on the 76ers ( 37-17) Wednesday in Philadelphia. The teams have split their series this season, with the 76ers taking down the Nets 124-108 the last time they met on February 6th. Both teams have won three of their last five.  The Nets Big Three have played in only seven games together this season, and they won't be adding another one on Wednesday when they take on the 76ers in Philadelphia. Kevin Durant (28.1 PPG) will be out (Rest) along with Blake Griffin (Left Knee), LaMarcus Aldridge (Non-COVID related illness), Chris Chiozza (Fractured Third Metacarpal Right Hand) and James Harden (25.2 PPG), who is suffering from a right hamstring strain. Spencer Dinwiddie and Tyler Johnson are also out for Brooklyn. Dinwiddie has a partially torn ACL, and Tyler Johnson has right knee soreness, and now I've officially typed out too many injuries and the names of too many body parts I didn't even know anyone had.   All of this is disappointing news to anyone hopi...

I'm writing some content for USALegalBetting.com! Catch up on some of my recent predictions for the NCAA Tournament here: https://www.usalegalbetting.com/nj/conorallen/ Congrats to Baylor on a great season! Watch out though Bears fans, Gonzaga is No.1 in Sports Illustrated's Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings for next season!