The boos will not come Wednesday night. If they do, at least, they will not reach Kyrie Irving’s ears.



The former Celtic, who would have made his TD Garden return when his Brooklyn Nets arrive for their first visit of the season, will be sidelined by a sore shoulder that has forced him to miss the past six games. What would have been an electric atmosphere in Boston will be dimmed, but in a strange sense the news fit Irving’s new relationship with Boston. Even before the injury, his absence has reshaped the Celtics’ landscape.



More so, Marcus Smart said late Monday night, the Celtics learned from everything they went through last season and decided being silent about matters never helped anything. They let frustration build up until it festered and agreed as a team not to repeat the same mistakes.



“It was huge for us (to see how wrong everything went last year),” Smart said while walking through a TD Garden corridor. “It...