Injured Irving progresses to on-court work

Kyrie Irving missed his first chance to return to Boston. He then missed the opportunity for revenge against the Celtics — and particularly their fans. He now has missed eight games in a row, nearly as many as he has played (11) since joining the Nets.

The star guard will miss at least Sunday’s game against the Heat, but coach Kenny Atkinson has new reason to hope Irving won’t miss much more than that.

Prior to Friday’s 112-107 win over the Celtics at Barclays Center, Irving did on-court work for the first time since being sidelined with a right shoulder injury. Atkinson said the 27-year-old took shots, but has not yet progressed to contact drills.

“[It’s] a real positive sign for us,” Atkinson said after the win. “The fact that he started the on-court work is good news for us. ... We’ll see [what happens] going forward.”

After Boston fans unleashed an avalanche of hate toward Irving (who wasn’t even at TD Garden for the game) two days earlier, Brooklyn fans showered the sidelined star with praise during Friday’s game, routinely chanting, “Kyrie’s better,” at Celtics All-Star Kemba Walker.

Irving, who leads the Nets with 28.5 points and 7.2 assists, hasn’t played since Nov. 14. The team has won six of its eight games without him.

“When Kyrie comes back, that’s just gonna give us a team with more depth” Atkinson said. “A more powerful team.”

Second-year center Jarrett Allen earned high praise after recording his career-best fourth straight double-double (14 points, 11 rebounds).

“He’s elevated himself into one of the better bigs in the East,” Boston coach Brad Stevens said. “He’s impacted the game in a lot of ways.”

Even Atkinson has been surprised by the 21-year-old’s growth this season.

“I feel like there’s a physical improvement,” Atkinson said. “The guy’s all over the place. He’s on every board. He’s at the rim protecting — he’s like our quarterback on defense. Any time we miss a shot, it seems like he’s cleaning it up. To be honest, it’s not something we emphasize — he’s just doing it. You gotta give him all the credit in the world. The confidence is growing.”