Sixers coach gives fans a guide for watching new Celtics forward

BOSTON — Nick Nurse warned Celtics fans not to wait before judging Chris Boucher’s shot.

It’s going to look funny when it goes up, but it goes in more often than it looks like it should.

For many Celtics observers, Wednesday night marked their introduction to Boucher.

The 32-year-old forward is one of a handful of new Boston players who suited up for their first regular-season game at TD Garden.

Boucher finished with six points and four rebounds off the bench.

The Sixers coach needed no introduction. Nurse was the coach of the Toronto Raptors in 2018 when Boucher worked his way from a Summer League to a roster spot and a role on the Raptors where he won a ring with Toronto’s 2019 NBA Champions. Boucher played seven years in the Great White North before signing with Boston this summer.

Before Wednesday’s game, Nurse recalled Boucher 1.0. way back when.

“It was great. He had a really interesting beginning,” Nurse said. I just got named the head coach and he was a summer league player. We had all these big guys, like three 7-footers on the summer league team. He didn’t play in the first two or three games. Then, in the third game, we said, ‘Let’s stick Boucher in there.’ From that moment on, he had like 25 points and five blocks and hit a few threes.”

Nurse said Boucher’s career, much like his shot, hasn’t always followed a natural path, but his work ethic and his energy have always made him valuable.

“He just kind of never stopped with that. He has tremendous energy, a super quirky game, but effective,” he said. “His shot looks funny, but he’s 36% career from three. He finishes shots at the rim that most of the time, as a coach, you wish he wasn’t taking, but he somehow wills them in.”

Wednesday was one of the few days, Nurse rooted against him.

“I’m really happy for him and proud of how his career has turned out,” he said. “It has not been a linear path for him. One thing for sure, you know he’s going to play hard.”