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.
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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?
Jayson Tatum doesn't seem to mind, and appeared amused by the whole situation when asked by our Abby Chin after Thursday's win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
"I didn't see that they said that about Eddie. I love Eddie. That's my guy," Tatum said with a smile. "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 are off to a strong start this season, winning six of their last seven and going a perfect 12-0 at home to lead the NBA at 18-5. In fact, they've won 19 straight regular-season home games dating to last March, their longest such streak since 1987.
But if any team would enjoy 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.
