Another flier portrays Irving as the lion from “The Wizard of Oz” — a character who aimed to gain more courage.

Some unhappy Celtics fans are expressing their opinions about Nets star Kyrie Irving not playing against his former teammates and not even traveling to Boston for tonight’s Celtics game by posting fliers around TD Garden with Irving’s face, accompanied by the word “COWARD.”

The rage over Kyrie Irving is apparently still very real.

Adam Sennott for The Boston Globe

A Globe journalist saw at least a half-dozen fliers on light poles around TD Garden.

The fliers appear to be the work of LFG Sports, a sports fan content website.


Dan Tarlow, 58, of Brookline, said that Irving’s absence “proves the point” the posters were trying to make.

“I was looking forward to booing him,” Tarlow said.

He added that fans would just boo someone else.

“I think it’s going to be Joe Harris from the Nets,” Tarlow said. “He’s going to be the subject of our wrath.

Carl Flumerfelt, 55 of Acton, said he bought tickets the day the schedule came out specifically to see the Celtics play Irving.

“Of course he’s ducking us,” Flumerfelt said.

Instead of booing the actual Irving, Flumerfelt said he would boo a picture of him on the jumbotron.

“They should put a running video of his horrible defense while he played for us,” Flumerfelt said.

It was announced a couple days ago that Irving, who bolted from the Celtics for the Brooklyn Nets last summer, will not play as he nurses a shoulder injury that has sidelined him for several games. Nets coach Kenny Atkinson had also previously said it wasn’t clear if Irving would even travel with the team to Boston.

In fact, Irving was not seen at the Garden about an hour and a half before the game started, according to Boston.com’s Nicole Yang.


The Celtics will take on the Nets again in Brooklyn on Friday. If Irving is back by then, Globe reporter Adam Himmelsbach said, he would return to much friendlier confines, although Celtics fans always have a noticeable presence in the Barclays Center, too.

Adam Himmelsbach of the Globe staff and Nicole Yang of Boston.com contributed to this report.