MIAMI, FL – The NBA announced today that Miami HEAT guard Josh Richardson was named the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month, presented by Kia Motors, for games played in March 2016. This marks the sixth time in franchise history a HEAT player has earned Rookie of the Month honors and the first of Richardson’s career.
Richardson led all rookies during March in plus/minus (+66), three-point field goals made (33) and three-point field goal percentage (.589), with at least 10 attempts. He averaged 12.0 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.13 steals while shooting 53.2 percent from the field in 15 games. His 58.9 percent (33-of-56) from three-point range was the second-highest percentage from downtown for a single month in NBA history with at least 50 attempts. He scored in double-figures eight times, including six of those games with at least 15 points, while shooting over 50 percent from the field in 10 contests and at least 50 percent from three-point range 11 times.
Richardson helped Miami to 10 wins in the month, the most victories for a single month since winning 10 games in March of 2014. In a win on March 11 at Chicago, Richardson recorded career highs in points (22), field goals made (9) and three-point field goals made (4) while tying his career high in assists (4). In that game, he out-scored the Bulls in the fourth quarter by himself (16-to-15) while shooting a perfect 6-of-6 from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from three-point range, posting a +16 in the final frame. In the HEAT’s next game, Richardson scored 17 points, hitting 4-of-5 from downtown, while tying his career-high of three blocks in a victory vs. Denver on March 14. He then dropped in 19 points in a win vs. Cleveland on March 19 as he shot 6-of-9 from the field and 4-of-6 from three-point range. Towards the end of the month on March 28, he tallied 16 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block in a victory vs. Brooklyn.
In the 23 games since the All-Star break, Richardson has out-performed his previous 23-game season averages in almost every statistical category including points per game (+8.8), rebounds per game (+1.5), assists per game (+1.1), steals per game (+0.78), field goal percentage (+.267), three-point field goal percentage (+.388) and double-figure scoring games (+11). Additionally, he has now connected on 45 three-point field goals this season, the fifth-most by a rookie in HEAT franchise history and his 48.4 three-point field goal percentage is currently the third-highest during a single-season in team history.