Nets' Kyrie Irving: 'I'm Cool With' Reception from Celtics Fans During Game 3 Loss

Brooklyn Nets and former Boston Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving was loudly booed in his return to TD Garden on Friday, when the C's defeated the visitors 125-119 in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

Irving was asked about the reception postgame and said that he was fine with the jeers since the focus remained on basketball. 

The TD Garden crowd was held to 5,000 patrons on Friday amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but that restriction will be lifted for Sunday, with TD Garden potentially welcoming over 17,000 fans for Game 4 between the C's and Nets, per Brian Robb of Mass Live.

That could lead to even more jeers for Irving, but he's welcoming the challenge.

“We’re expecting a bigger crowd on Sunday,” Irving said, per Robb. “Happy it was a great start to seeing what this environment is going to be like. Just looking forward to the challenge.”

Boston and Brooklyn will battle on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET. TNT will be the television home for the game.