There’s a good chance Kyrie Irving won’t like what he hears from Boston Celtics fans.
Oddmsakers predict the Brooklyn Nets guard will receive an “unwelcome homecoming” from Celtics fans when he returns to TD Garden for the first time since leaving Boston, according to press releases Sportsbettingdime.com circulated Tuesday. Irving will miss Wednesday’s Nets-Celtics game due to a shoulder injury, but oddsmakers at Sportsbettingdime believe Celtics fans won’t miss the chance to lambaste a player who left Boston last summer in free agency, despite previously pledging his desire to re-sign with the team.
Oddsmakers have set the over/under for the first anti-Irving chant at 14.5 seconds into the game.
Observers of Wednesday’s game should expect a variety of anti-Irving chants, as oddsmakers set the over/under for the number of chants against the former Celtic at 2 1/2.
Kemba Walker, whom the Celtics signed to replace Irving, has enjoyed a superb start to his career in Boston. Oddsmakers offer 4/1 lines that one of the anti-Irving chants will be “We Like Kemba Better” or “Kemba is Better.”
Irving won’t play, and Walker might not either, as he recovers from a sprained neck. But their absences probably won’t matter to passionate Celtics fans, who’ve waited nearly five months to rip Irving personally.
Eagle-eyed bettors have the opportunity to profit off the animosity Boston feels toward its one-time court general.