Chris Boucher has been on fire for the Raptors after a terrible start. What sparked his resurgence?

Boxing Day was the darkest day of the season for the Raptors.

A skeleton crew — 4 gamers from the common roster and 4 gamers plucked from the G League as emergency COVID fill-ins — travelled to Cleveland the place they met for the primary time and received drilled by the Cavaliers in one of many worst losses in franchise historical past.

It might need been the low level of the yr for Chris Boucher as nicely, a disappointing particular person efficiency when his group had been counting so closely on him. Boucher was 3-for-19 from the sector in simply 28 minutes — 2-for-10 from three-point vary.

“It’s sort of unusual,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse stated this week. “I feel the turnaround got here after that Cleveland sport the place we received blown out. “We … had 4 of personal gamers — The 4 Horseman Sport, 4 of our personal guys, 4 we simply met earlier than tip — and Chris didn’t play excellent that evening.

“Ever since then, he’s performed actually good.”

Perhaps that was the wall Boucher talks about hitting — and getting by way of — when he speaks of his in-season renaissance, the one factor he needed to break by way of to rediscover his power, his consistency and his sport.

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“Most of my profession I’ve been doing the identical factor and I’ve been profitable, so once you hit a wall it sort of makes you consider what else it's important to do to make you get higher, and I feel that’s what actually helped me out,” the 29-year-old from Montreal stated.

Within the 15 video games earlier than Toronto performed the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday evening, Boucher had averaged 8.5 rebounds and 12.1 factors per sport on 50.4 per cent capturing from the ground and 40.8 per cent from three-point vary. In 28 video games main as much as Boxing Day, he had averaged 4.6 rebounds and seven.9 factors per sport on 42.1 per cent capturing from the ground and 21.3 per cent from three.

Boucher had 9 factors off the bench Wednesday because the Raptors nearly clawed again from a 19-point gap to steal a win.

However Gary Trent Jr., who led Toronto with 32 factors, was ejected within the remaining minutes for an overly-emotional response to a non-call that resulted in his second technical foul and the Raptors missed 11 free throws on the evening.

DeMar DeRozan had 29 factors for the Bulls.

The Raptors, taking part in once more with out Fred VanVleet, took a 103-102 lead with simply over three minutes to go earlier than the Bulls put it away with a 9-2 run.

Boucher’s numbers this season inform the story nicely. He wasn’t himself, the juice was out of his sport, there was no power, no spark and no discernible influence.

“He was struggling this yr, there’s little doubt about it,” Nurse stated. “There have been lots of what I'd think about below-his-potential performances. A number of them.”

There aren’t as many poor performances now as a result of Boucher has his head on proper — extra pre-game meditation and movie examine definitely helped — and he’s a constant producer.

“I felt like I grew as a participant so much this yr, greater than some other yr simply because I began unhealthy after which I had to determine my manner,” he stated. “There was lots of stuff I needed to study, simply taking part in completely different positions in order that’s all occurred in a single yr and I really feel like that is the explanation why my routine needed to change as a result of I’m doing much more on the ground now.”

He discovered it not by incessant work on the court docket however by discovering a routine away from the sport and with the assist of household and associates.

“I knew I used to be a greater participant than what I used to be displaying,” he stated. “I wasn’t taking part in my finest basketball and I used to be targeted on the improper factor. I feel by watching movie, doing meditation, releasing up your thoughts, the sport comes so much simpler.

“Generally you get too laborious on your self, you want some people who know you outdoors of basketball to make you understand you’re nonetheless doing the correct issues and issues will come round and I feel that basically helped me out.”

One other factor that received Boucher again on monitor was a return to what he had executed so nicely early in his profession. He grew to become an power man off the bench, extra in a position to affect the sport with effort than scoring, a trait Nurse knew Boucher had however one which had someway disappeared.

It's to Nurse’s credit score that he stored working Boucher on the market, perhaps not for lengthy stretches however for sufficient time to make Boucher really feel he wasn’t completely forgotten.

“I continued to inform him that I imagine in him and I’m going to maintain giving him his probability,” Nurse stated. “ ‘I feel you’ve already confirmed you are able to do what you'll be able to, however you gained’t do something when you don’t keep to your core, which is power: run, rebound, block pictures.’ It’s humorous how we’re seeing this over the yr, the blokes who play higher on defence play higher on offence.”