Mike “Muscy Stench” Muscala was rudely jammed into the starting lineup in the absence of Joel Embiid, who was out with a sore ankle. I don’t want to freak anyone out here, but the Achilles is kind of near the ankle, and the fact that the whole area was sore is very concerning to me. Maybe he snapped that tendon like a rubber band and didn’t notice, or maybe he has chronic and intense plantar fasciitis. There are so many things that can go wrong there. Just saying, don’t be surprised to see a lot more of Muscala in the coming months and in through the playoffs.
Anyway, yeah, the 76ers lost because Muscala just isn’t as good as Embiid. Embiid is a fringe MVP candidate; Muscala is a fringe White-American-All-Star (a team consisting of the best white American NBA players which isn’t segregatory at all) candidate, maybe. He can hit shots and do some other stuff in limited amounts, but when it comes to stuffing the stat sheet, he’s not doing it.
Since the 76ers lost to the Hawks, I’m not going to consider this a REVENGE GAME by him. 16 points isn’t even that many, anyway.