For more than 10 years now, the Orlando Magic franchise has been one of uninspired, languid basketball defined by lack of ambition. Since trading Dwight Howard before the 2012-13 season, the Magic have only made the playoffs twice, suffering two first-round exits at the hands of the Kawhi Leonard-led Toronto Raptors and the Giannis Antetokounmpo-led Milwaukee Bucks. However, the Magic are playing better as of late, thanks to Paolo Banchero, but some pundits remain stuck in the past.
After the Magic defeated the then-Eastern Conference leaders Boston Celtics, 117-109, on Friday night, former Celtics guard Eddie House went on a salt-filled rant on NBC Sports Boston's postgame show. House proceeded to call the Magic “garbage” and that they're “still not a good basketball team” despite winning five in a row to that point.
And this wasn't lost on Paolo Banchero or any other Magic player, as they proved that their victory two nights ago was no mere fluke. They beat the Celtics yet again, 95-92, despite being on the road for both of those games. Of course, Banchero was proud of how his team was able to use Eddie House's words as motivation to win their sixth straight game.
“I'd be lying if I said we didn't see that. It definitely lit a fire under some of the guys, and just the team in general. It's clear that a lot of people still don't respect us so we're just gonna have to go out game by game, lock in, and eventually, it'll be earned,” Banchero said, per Khobi Price.
"I'd be lying if I said we didn't see that…It definitely lit a fire under some of the guys."
Paolo Banchero on the Magic using Eddie House's comments after the last win over the Celtics as motivation for tonight: pic.twitter.com/smbVi2XWKQ
— Khobi Price (@khobi_price) December 18, 2022
Paolo Banchero even showed the poise of a 10-year veteran. He acknowledged that this was just the criticism they needed to hear to avoid being complacent in their Sunday night rematch.
“We used it as fuel to the fire. Just instant motivation, you know. It was just the thing we needed to see. Coming off beating them and playing them again, sometimes you might be satisfied with that first win or be happy that you won one game out of two, but seeing that clip gave us that extra boost to come out here in this second game and do the same thing,” Banchero added.
Meanwhile, Magic players took to Twitter to clown House for his comments.
Magic sweep the weekend series with the Celtics and the players take turns posting the gif of Eddie House getting slapped by Rafer Alston after Eddie said "they're still garbage" after the game on Friday is absolutely fucking hilarious. pic.twitter.com/iucUHG5N0z
— Shawn Butler (@iBeButlerr) December 18, 2022
Banchero had 31 points to lead all scorers on the night. At 11-17, the Magic may not be a playoff-caliber team just yet, but they don't appear to be too far behind either. They are only 2.5 games out of the final play-in seed, which should give them even more motivation to continue this hot streak as they face the Atlanta Hawks tomorrow on the second night of a back-to-back.
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