London Lions forward Sam Dekker has been one of the 7DAYS EuroCup's most impactful players this season. That said, the 28-year-old has taken his game to another level in recent weeks.
Dekker, who ranks sixth in minutes played (31:31 mpg.), has been competition's best scorer thus far in the second half of the regular season. His overall production since Round 10 has shot London up the EuroCup statistical rankings, all the way to second in average PIR and third in scoring.
Dekker already starred in the first half of the regular season, his second in the EuroCup. He overcame an injury in that season opener that had held him to 5 minutes and just 5 points that night. After returning in Round 4, he went on to score at least 15 points in each of the next six games, including 20 points twice in that span.
Since Round 10, however, Dekker has been positively explosive. No player has scored more points in the four games since Round 10 than Dekker's 97.
Dekker started off this span of strong performances by dropping 29 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds against Hapoel Vegan Friendly Tel Aviv. He followed that up with a double-double of 23 points and 10 rebounds in a key road win at Dolomiti Energia Trento.
Dekker continued by scoring 18 of team's 57 points in a tight home loss against Group B leader Gran Canaria. And finally, in Round 13, he netted 27 points and grabbed 8 rebounds on the road against Buducnost VOLI Podgorica.
Over that span, Dekker impressed not only with his 24.3 points per game, improved from 16.6 before Round 10, but also by improving his three-point shooting. He went from making just 6 triples on 24.0% accuracy in his first seven games to averaging 2.3 on respectable 34.6% shooting in the last four.
Dekker also went from pulling down 4.9 rebounds to averaging 7.3 since Round 10, and has blocked 6 shots in the last four games. It all led to him posting an average PIR of 25.8, behind only this season's PIR leader Yogi Ferrell of Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana, who has averaged 26.5 in the same four-game span.
Dekker will try to keep up his hot streak when his team hosts Veolia Towers Hamburg on Wednesday knowing that a win will book London's place in the playoffs.
