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With 19 points on
81 percent true shootingagainst the Phoenix Suns earlier this week, Kawhi Leonard capped off an incredible month of marksmanship. Over a span of
15 games in December, he accumulated a 50 percent field goal percentage, a 51 percent three-point field goal percentage, and a 91 percent free throw percentage.
Various searches through
Basketball Reference revealed very few performances of such a high caliber. Here are the “50-50-90” results for regular-season months since 1985-86, with a minimum of 100 field goal attempts, 50 three-point attempts, and 50 free-throw attempts:
Player Date FGA FG% 3PA 3P% FTA FT%
Kawhi Leonard 12-2015 196 50.0% 59 50.8% 67 91.0%
Kevin Durant 11-2015 175 54.9% 59 50.8% 60 90.0%
Steve Nash 11-2007 206 53.9% 72 50.0% 56 98.2%
Dana Barros 03-1995 219 52.1% 69 50.7% 59 93.2%
Dana Barros 12-1994 188 54.8% 66 50.0% 87 90.8%
Larry Bird 03-1986 352 56.0% 59 54.2% 111 90.1%
Some quick observations:
- This is actually the second consecutive 50-50-90 month of the season, as Kevin Durant accomplished the feat in November. Although he played only 334 minutes in 10 games due to injury, he still had a sizable set of scoring opportunities and was extremely productive in them.
- Dana Barros had quite a run in 1994-95, reaching the 50-50-90 mark on two separate occasions. Naturally, it was the best season of his career. He had the third highest three-point percentage (46.4), third highest free throw percentage (89.9), and fifth highest effective field goal percentage (57.5) in the NBA. Overall, he trailed only John Stockton in Offensive Box Plus/Minus en route to earning the Most Improved Player Award.
- One could argue that Larry Bird’s 50-50-90 was the most jaw-dropping, if only because he achieved the milestone over so many more shots. Of course, he had about half the three-point attempt rate as the other players, but his 16.8 percent 3PAr came at a time when the league average was 3.8. The context was vastly different.
As with any sports benchmark, there’s an arbitrary element to the whole 50-50-90 concept. For one thing, it neglects the
Kyle Korvers and Steve Kerrs of the NBA world who’ve hit the more conventional 50-40-90 line, and a calendar-month timeframe overlooks other types of streaks.
1 Still, these points shouldn’t diminish the fact that Leonard finished 2015 with a bang.
