NBA Playoffs: To Win a Ring the Cavs Need To Make the Free Ones

The Cleveland Cavaliers may be the best team in the NBA standings, but when it comes to making the easiest shot in the game of basketball, they rank dead last in the league.

A few years ago, the San Antonio Spurs came up with the philosophy known as the "hack a Shaq" in order to stop the most dominant force in the NBA from scoring at will.  Maybe the rest of the NBA should take notice and "hack a Cav" instead.

The Cavaliers are currently shooting 72.2 percent from the free throw line, and currently only have one player, Mo Williams, inside of the top 40 in free throw percentage this season. This statistic means that the Cavaliers are missing nearly seven of their 26 attempted free throws each game. Those seven points will be the difference between a win and a loss in the playoffs.

For a team that has seemingly been on cruise control all season, you would think that Mike Brown would take the time to work on the team's horrible free throw shooting abilities. I mean, when your superstar athlete is shooting 71 percent from the line, that says something about the dedication to making the free ones by the rest of the team.

In the regular season, LeBron James and Co. may not view the missed free throws as a big deal, but if you take a look at the Eastern Conference Finals last season, a few missed free throws could be what lost the Cavaliers the series more than anything.

Game One loss to Orlando 107-106

• Orlando shot 12-14 for 85.7 percent
• Cavaliers shot 12-17 for 70.6 percent
  

Game Three loss to Orlando 99-89

• Orlando shot 39-51 for 76.5 percent
  
• Cavaliers shot 26-35 for 74.3 percent
  

Game Four loss to Orlando 116-114

• Orlando shot 19-27 for 70.4 percent
  
• Cavaliers shot 30-36 for 83.3 percent
  

Game Six loss to Orlando 103-90

• Orlando shot 17-21 for 81 percent
  
• Cavaliers shot 11-22 for 50 percent
  

Just by looking at these four losses to Orlando in last year's playoffs the free throws that the Cavaliers missed basically decided the games, or would have put them in a better position to win down the stretch of the game.

So how exactly does a team that has gotten worse at shooting the free throw since last season prepare for the daunting task of making the non-defended shot at a higher percentage in this year's playoffs? 

One Word: Practice

Oh yes, I'm talking about practice . I have personally witnessed a Cavaliers practice, and many of them incorporate a lot of goofing-around time for the players. If Mike Brown removed 10 minutes of the family pictures and games and had the team shoot a couple more free throws, this year's Cavaliers team could help minimize what seemingly was the Achilles heel of last year's team.

With the additions of notoriously poor free throw shooters Shaq and Antawn Jamison, the Cavaliers better attempt to solve this free throw problem soon or else they could find themselves on the losing end of the free throw battle yet again.