Celtics

“We can’t control the story. So that’s what it is.”

Steve Kerr was asked an interesting question ahead of Wednesday’s matchup between the Celtics and Warriors at TD Garden.

“What was the loudest sound you were booed at?”

The Warriors head coach and former NBA guard responded to this question with a laugh.

“I don’t think anyone cared enough to boo me,” Kerr said. “We’ll see how it goes tonight.”

Kerr expected to be persona non grata on the hardwood on Wednesday, largely because Jayson Tatum will be commanding his minutes as the head coach of Team USA at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Tatum, who captured the NBA championship with Boston in June and has already won a gold medal with Team USA at the 2020 Summer Games, has become an afterthought in Kerr’s rotations in France.

Under Kerr’s watch, Tatum played the second-fewest minutes of any player on the Team USA roster during the Olympics and did not log a second of game action in the two games against Serbia.

Tatum despite Team USA winning another gold medal at the 2024 international tournament became vocal He talked about how dissatisfied he was with his limited role on Team USA this summer.

Now, with Tatum and the Celtics motivated to face Kerr and the Warriors on Wednesday, does Golden State’s coach have any regrets about how he handled Tatum’s minutes?

It doesn’t look like that.

“We can’t control the story. That’s what it’s all about,” Kerr said ahead of Wednesday’s game. “So it can be tough. And in Vegas, I thought from the beginning it was all about, ‘Hey, we’re in this together.’ “We have 12 Hall of Famers and we were determined to win and we won the gold medal.

“So I don’t really think about it too much, just yeah, I didn’t like not playing Jayson against Serbia. We’re not playing Joel (Embiid) against South Sudan. Those aren’t fun decisions, but our guys were all great and committed to each other to try to win the gold medal.” “They were determined. They brought the gold home. They all conducted themselves with incredible dignity and class, and that’s the real story.”

While Kerr hasn’t focused on his summer rotations, Tatum appears to be taking out his frustrations on the rest of the NBA. The 26-year-old forward is off to the best start of his career, averaging 30.0 points, 7.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game, while shooting 48.1 percent from the field.

Kerr will likely be met with plenty of ridicule on Wednesday. But the nine-time NBA champion (five times as a player, four times as a coach) had a sarcastic response when it came to the expected reception.

“I’m sure many Celtics fans will applaud me for being a part of Team USA and bringing a gold medal to my country,” Kerr said. “I am a patriotic American. I love my country. The team that won the world championship included three Celtics and won the gold medal two months later.

“Pretty incredible stuff. So yes, people can write about whatever they want to write about, playtime or yes.”

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Conor Ryan is a staff writer at Boston.com covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots and Red Sox, a position he has held since 2023.

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