The Machine NBA2K25 Career Pt. 40 + 🌎My Thoughts on the Sports World Today🌎
January 14th, 2025 - Philadelphia 76ers vs Oklahoma City Thunder
Ohhhh man this was a rough one! The Thunder came into Philadelphia ready to play! The Machine's stat line at first glance seems pretty strong:
- 16 Points, 8 Rebounds, 11 Assists
- Teammate Grade: A+
But that doesn't tell the full story unfortunately. The Machine shot a miserable 31% from the field and those missed shots may have indeed cost the Sixers the game as they lost by just a singular point.
Ah well, ya can't win them all!
🌎My Thoughts on the Sports World Today🌎
In the real world, UFC is back for a second consecutive week, and next week is the Super Bowl! UFC 324 was great least week, Justin Gaethje looked excellent in his win over Paddy Pimblett and Sean O'Malley got a really nice victory to maintain his position at bantamweight!
Everyone seems to write off Justin Gaethje like he's already semi-retired or something, but he's proving that his story is still being written!
UFC 325
It's absolutely frigid in my neck of the woods and I am so grateful that the UFC has another outstanding event in store out in Australia!
Rafael Fiziev looks to face Mauricio Ruffy in a solid lightweight matchup. Both of these guys are allergic to sustained grappling of any sort so this should be a war! I have Rafael winning, I love his style.
The LEGENDARY Dan Hooker faces off against Benoît Saint-Denis in a matchup of top ten lightweights. These two are absolute warriors and this should be really good. When I say warriors, I mean these two are actually pretty nuts and lucky for them they found the right sport.
Dan Hooker is slowly becoming very similar to Donald Cerrone and I do mean that in the best way possible. The guy has never been in a boring fight. Benoît Saint-Denis is a former high level military man. This is such an intriguing matchup from both a style matchup and a personality perspective. They are both seriously intense in their own unique way.
I have Dan winning!
In the main event we have Alexander Volkanovski (C) and Diego Lopes fighting for the Featherweight Championship! Not only is this matchup incredible, but this is a Championship REMATCH!
Their first fight was super exciting and this matchup will likely be more of the same. Diego Lopes has become one of my favorite fighters when it comes to this newer wave of fighters.
Alexander Volkanovski is one of the most tactical, and interesting fighters the sport has seen in some time. His legacy is mostly cemented as a Hall of Famer and perhaps the greatest featherweight of all-time. When he came back to re-claim his title over Lopes after a few losses, that only sealed the deal for him as a GOAT.
Diego fought well in their first fight and he's also six years younger than Alex which is rather interesting. Diego is like a professional brawler with a great ground game. He reminds me of a sharper, more athletic, more powerful Nate Diaz.
This will be a massive test for Lopes. Lopes is younger which is a positive. BUT Alex is at home in Australia and he's had MANY rematches in his past on top of his natural tactical excellence....
I VERY TENTATIVELY lean towards Alex in this one.
Super Bowl LX
Last week, the Patriots and Seahawks were victorious and they will be facing off in Super Bowl LX!
The Patriots squeezed past the Broncos in what was a pretty boring game. Funny enough when I saw the Patriots were winning 10-7 during the game I thought to myself 'Vrabel is absolutely willing to win 10-7' and well, they did!
The Seahawks won a pretty entertaining game over the Rams! I love Sam Darnold's redemption story so far. It's rather hilarious and interesting to see Darnold's later career resurgence. Some of these NFL scouts, executives, and coaches should re-evaluate how they evaluate talent or how they predict growth in players. Have patience maybe. People often expect EVERY QB to produce instantly, but I think that sometimes that idea often underestimates not just the difficulty of the NFL, but it also underestimates PEOPLE in general. For some people, things start to click later.
If anyone has ever played sports, there are often players who struggle for awhile but then all of a sudden level up and start to shine. Like, this is not as rare as it sounds in my experience.
Literally the same can be said for Jaxon Smith-Njigba to a lesser degree. JSN looked like he'd be like a solid number two receiver in his first two seasons but now in year three he looks like a whole new player!
For the Patriots well, they look excellent too. They just seem super prepared at all times and they have an excellent QB in Drake Maye. I get the sense that the Patriots are like overall a B level team but when you consider their QB is an A+ and their coaching staff is an A+ then you have yourselves a serious mystery to solve if you're facing them.
I lean towards the Seahawks to win in this one, due to the fact that the team is amazingly well rounded and their coaching staff is also quite comparable. They have a great defense, a good QB, a good run game and an ELITE receiver. Their core is pretty unshakeable and they just have built from there.
I think this will be a good Super Bowl!
Fun times ahead, starting tonight!
The sports world never sleeps, till next time!
