Kryptonite?

Everyone has their kryptonite. For Bruce Willis, it's water. For Ohio State, it's the BCS. For vegetarians, it's the Big Texan Steak Ranch. For the 2008-2009 Hawks, it's Jason Kidd's old team, the New Jersey Nets.

Who?

Exactly.

The Nets are 17-18, and are currently in second place in the terrible Atlantic division, and the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. They've lost home games against Charlotte, Toronto (by 22), New York (by 12), Washington (by 20), and Indiana - amongst others. However, three of their 17 victories have been against our Hawks. THREE!!! That's close to 20% of their wins, and nearly 30% of the Hawks' losses. Furthermore, so far, those are the only three games the teams have played against each other. The Hawks are 0-3 against the Nets on the season, with their last tilt coming at Philips on January 30.

The most critical stat of the three games seems to be Free-Throw shooting. In the first game, the Nets were 32-39, while the Hawks were 17-23. That kind free-throw discrepancy will almost always result in a loss, and the Hawks lost by 7.

The second matchup, in which the Hawks lost by 12 in Atlanta, the Nets were 31-36, with the Hawks at 28-36. 3 Free-throws are not a huge difference, but the big difference in this game was who was taking them. For the Nets, they had their excellent FT shooter, Devin Harris, get to the line 14 times and sinking 13 of them. Meanwhile, the Hawks were scattered all over the place, with Joe Johnson taking 8 and making 6, and Flip Murray taking the second most, going 6-6. It is critical that the good free throw shooters on the team take the ball to the basket and attempt to get to the free-throw line. If they don't get fouled, they'll have a higher-percentage shot opportunity, and if they do get fouled, they go to the line. Just look at the shooting percentages in the second game - the Nets shot 38-69 (55.1%), with the Hawks coming in at 35-76 (46.1%). The difference in shooting percentage correlates to the types of shots the players were taking, and it is evidenced in the fact that our best ballers were taking jumpers and not getting to the line.

The third game, a 2 point loss in overtime, was also lost at the line. The Hawks went 10-20 (50%) from the line in that game, while the Nets went 9-12 (75%). Obviously, if the Hawks had made an extra FT or 2, they would have won the game in regulation. Shooting 50% from the free-throw line is simply unacceptable.

I'm still afraid the Hawks aren't exactly sure who they are. Are they the defensive juggernaut that can hold any team under 90 points when they make that their priority? Are they the running/gunning offensive team that can score 120 when needed? We know this much - if the Hawks get into a free-throw battle, it won't be pretty.

For your enjoyment, here are some random free throws: