Former Boston Celtics champion guard cited as reason east rival has been owning them

The reason why the Boston Celtics have been consistently owned by the Orlando Magic over their last four matchups dating back to December 2022, as Cole Anthony revealed on the December 1 edition of The Lowe Post podcast, is Eddie House's dismissal of the Magic following a December 16 victory over the Cs.

"Eddie House. Eddie House. Eddie House," Anthony said when explaining Orlando's ongoing win-streak over Boston. "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. We all watched the clip as a team. We always gonna remember what he said about us, so it is personal every single time we play Boston.

"Boston's a great team, but it will continue to be personal. It's still (personal). I can't say what I really want to say, but yes."

Eddie House said the Magic were 'still garbage' after defeating Boston Celtics in December 2022

The level of disrespect House levied toward the Magic opened up something inside the team, and it's not hard to see why.

"They got 10 wins," House said on the C's post-game show on December 16, 2022. "They're still garbage. They're still not a good basketball team. They won't make the playoffs. They won't make the play-in game."

Orlando has been the 14th-best team since December 16, 2022. The Magic are tied for the third-best winning percentage through 20 games in 2023-24. It's evident that Orlando is now in the conference's top echelon -- and they've even become a nightmare potential playoff matchup for the Celtics.

With three scorers of 15 PPG or more, including Anthony, Paolo Banchero, and Franz Wagner, the Magic are no longer the up-and-coming Eastern Conference riser.

Orlando has risen.