The Boston Celtics will have their hands full Friday night at TD Garden, and Eddie House might be partially to blame.
The Celtics will host the upstart Orlando Magic, who sit third in the Eastern Conference at 16-7 and have won four straight against Boston dating to last October. Why do the Magic play so well against the C’s? During a recent appearance on ESPN’s Lowe Post podcast, Magic guard Cole Anthony specifically cited House as their source of motivation.
“He was talking about us early last season when we played them twice in Boston and he called us a trash team, pretty much. And we all — to this day, we take that personal,” Anthony said of the former Celtics guard and NBC Sports Boston analyst.
House since has responded to Anthony’s call-out — “If I’m the one that’s motivating you and I haven’t been played since 2011, then there’s an issue there” — but how do Celtics players feel about the 2008 champion giving Orlando some extra bulletin board material?
When asked by correspondent Abby Chin after Thursday’s win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jayson Tatum didn’t seem to mind and seemed amused by the situation.
“I didn’t notice they said anything about Eddie. Eddie is my favourite. “That’s my guy,” Tatum remarked, smiling. “They have gotten the best of us the last couple matchups, so it’s going to be a big test for us tomorrow on a back-to-back.”
The Celtics have won six of their last seven games and are 12-0 at home this season, leading the NBA with an 18-5 record. In fact, since last March, they’ve won 19 consecutive regular-season home games, the longest such string since 1987.
However, if any team would like snapping that streak, it’s the Magic, which undoubtedly will come ready to play Friday night. NBC Sports Boston’s coverage of Celtics-Magic begins at 6:30 p.m. ET, with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m. ET.
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