With 19 points on 81 percent true shooting against 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. Even the monthly minimum criteria of 100 FGA, 50 3PA, and 50 FTA are admittedly debatable. In choosing these cutoffs, I looked for “simple” numbers that provided substantial shooting chances in the three areas. Specifically, I tried to get beyond high-percentage performances in which three-point shots and drawn fouls were not “meaningful” parts of a player’s game.] Still, these points shouldn’t diminish the fact that Leonard finished 2015 with a bang.