Chris Boucher and a dunk for NBA history: from grilling in a restaurant to dazzling with an impossible jump

THE NBA We’re used to seeing spectacular shows, many of them starring iconic players like Michael Jordan or LeBron James or today’s stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo. To that list we have to add an unexpected hero, the striker Chris Boucher.

The day of Thursday 23 left a victory for the toronto birds of prey Of 115 to 110 against the New Orleans Pelicans, with an intractable Pascal Sakam, who contributed 26 points, adding another win and leaving his team in ninth place in the Eastern Conference led by the Boston Celtics.

But beyond the favorable result and the figures that the meeting had, all the cameras remained with Chris Boucher, author of a work of art. The 2.06-metre forward got the ovation of the evening when, five seconds after the closing siren sounded in the third quarter of the game, he carried the ball onto the pitch and gave away a dunk for history.

The 30-year-old, born in Saint Lucia but a Canadian citizen, nimbly guided the counter and with formidable dexterity jumped with his foot just beyond the free throw line to nail the jacket in the circle and put the stadium back on its feet.

Although he is not a player who distinguishes himself for this type of action, his acrobatics recalled two other actions: one by a very young Lebron James and another of Antetokounmpo, during the 2019 play-offs.

Boucher managed a magnificent play only seen in dunking contests, such as when Michael Jordan completed it in the 1988 All Star Game.

Jordan dunk history

From the restaurant to the fight in the NBA

Boucher had a tough life before the NBA. Five months after his birth, in the small Caribbean state of Saint Lucia, Chris was moved to Montreal with his mother. Mary Mac Vane encounter Jean Guy Boucherwho had met and married years earlier in that city.

then transferred to Montreal-North, a neighborhood used to receiving foreigners and where it has not made good progress. Over the years, shortly after finishing his university studies, he decides to abandon his studies to continue his own work in a restaurantoccupying its space as a prominent grid.

In the midst of serious marital problems between her parents which led to their separation, she had to move in with her father, with whom she had hundreds of arguments. Full of uncertainties, only his personal goal he had to be a basketball pro.

He received a scholarship to Oregon in his youth stage and put out a formidable performance, catching the attention of recruiters. In 2012, after returning to his hometown to start a new life, he applied via a form to join a club where I have no answers. But then, participating in the Hang Time tournament at the Center Sportif de la Petite Bourgogne, he was discovered as a university gem.

In 2017 he had his own first draft where he was not selected as nobody wanted to risk it for him. A year and months later, after making his NBA debut with a contract with the Golden State Warriors, he was signed by Toronto, where he currently plays, managing to build spectacular scaffolding.