Playing in his rookie season in the 7DAYS EuroCup, and for a team enjoying its debut campaign in the competition, Patrick Richard of U-BT Cluj-Napoca has started to really come into his own in the last three games.
After going through some ups and downs, the soon-to-be 33-year-old has taken his game to another level between Rounds 8 and 10. In addition to increasing his scoring output, Richard has also seen a rise in his overall productivity on the court.
Though the first seven games of the season, Richard averaged 10.6 points on 25.0% three-point shooting. He dished 5.6 assists per night and also grabbed 3.6 rebounds. The veteran guard scored in double digits five times, but never more than 14 points.
Over the last three games, though, Richard has taken those all-round performances to an even higher level, with his scoring average increasing to 18.3 points per contest. Only five players in the EuroCup have scored more than the Cluj guard over that span.
What's more, Richard has nearly doubled his rebounding numbers, pulling down 6.3 per game since Round 8, while his assist numbers remain impressive at 5.0 per night.
Richard shone particularly brightly in two of his last three performances. In Round 8 on the road at Prometey Slobozhanske, he finished with 19 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, but it came in a Cluj defeat.
Then, after posting 13 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in Round 9 against ratiopharm Ulm, Richard had his best-ever scoring performance against Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse last week. En route to a career-high 23 points, he went 4-for-6 from two-point range and 3-for-6 from three-point territory. Along with that, he recorded 8 rebounds and 5 assists.
As a result, the Cluj guard has averaged a PIR of 23.0 over the last three games. That is not only an improvement of nearly 10 points compared to the first seven rounds of the season, but it also ranks him among the best performers in the entire EuroCup. Since Round 8, only three players in the entire competition have accumulated a higher PIR than Richard.
On Wednesday night, Richard will try to continue his hot streak when Cluj visits the Slovenian capital to take on Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana, as the Romanian team goes in search of its first road win in the competition.
