February 4th, 2025 - Philadelphia 76ers vs Dallas Mavericks

The Machine is named Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month! Too cool, he's been improving massively. He definitely grew up hoping for times like this.

On this night the Mavericks were in town, and he showed the Mavericks exactly why he was awarded Rookie of the Month! Here's his stats during the 79-74 win:

• Player of the Game - another award while he's at it!
• 21 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists
• Teammate Grade A-

🌎My Thoughts on the Sports World Today🌎

In the real world, UFC 328 is here and it actually looks pretty great.

Jeremy Stephens is fighting again and I never thought I'd see him back in the UFC, so that's pretty cool. He's fighting King Green in a match between legends of the sport. I think King Green may be too big and quick for Stephens but man that will be nuts!

Top 10 welterweights in #6 Sean Brady and #9 Joaquin Buckley are set to compete in an interesting stylistic matchup. Brady is more of a grappler and Buckley prefers striking. Both are short, dense fighters though. Should be a good one. I think Buckley actually wins but if Brady is in reality way better at grappling, Brady could dominate so this is hard to predict.

Top five heavyweights in #2 Alexander Volkov and #4 Waldo Cortes-Acosta are set to fight and this should be crazy. Volkov is like a permanent top-five heavyweight while Cortes-Acosta is a strong up-and-comer. I think Cortes-Acosta gets it done, he has a baseball background which I'm intrigued by. I think if harnessed well, a baseball player could have crazy power. Should be fun though!

For the Men's Flyweight Title, Champion Joshua Van tries to defend his title versus #3 Flyweight Tatsuro Taira. This will be fun! Joshua Van is just super tough, talented, and athletic quite frankly. Tatsuro Taira is springy, explosive fighter himself. Both these guys are insanely young. Taira is 26 and Van is 24! This may be the first of several fights between these guys, who knows! I think Van wins though, he may be too powerful.

In the main event it's a second Championship Fight, this time in the Middleweight Division. Champion Khamzat Chimaev (left) tries to defend his belt against #3 Middleweight Sean Strickland (right). Strickland is also a former champion.

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These are arguably two of the biggest stars in the UFC today. Easily top five if we're talking current and active. Both are pretty nuts and outspoken, often they're hilarious. I like both of these guys. I'd like Sean to win but I'm unsure how he will exactly.

Everyone is pretty aware that Strickland is a good grappler, but not many are sure how good. With Khamzat, you gotta be really good at grappling, because it seems that Khamzat is one of the best ever at MMA grappling.

But if Sean is better than we all think at grappling or he is just on point for just one night, Sean could win with his striking and cardio. Both have good cardio and Khamzat can strike pretty well too. In fact, many of the things I said about Sean's grappling can be said about Khamzat's striking in this matchup.

These guys don't seem to like each other very much either so that makes the fight way more interesting. This is going to be crazy!!!!

The NBA Playoffs continue. Only eight teams are left now.

The Spurs are up 2-1 over the Timberwolves, Spurs should win. I'm impressed the Timberwolves made it past the Nuggets but the Spurs are too good I believe, unless Anthony Edwards gets a little healthier.

Cavs bounced back with a win versus the Pistons to make their deficit 2-1, that should be a good series. I think the Pistons will win but who knows.

The Thunder are winning over the Lakers 2-0. The Thunder might go 8-0 in these first two rounds.

My Sixers are getting crushed by the Knicks 3-0 LOL. More on that in another post.

I think it will be Thunder-Spurs, and Knicks-Pistons in the Conference Finals, but I hope I'm wrong about the Knicks!

The NFL schedule gets released on Thursday, that should be fun. It's like a holiday every week, it's fun to picture what games will be playing throughout the holiday season.

The sports world never sleeps, till next time!