It's NBA playoff season again, that time of year when you and I and millions of other fans are sure to sit back after an agonizingly close loss and ask exactly the same question:

"Why the $#@! can't they hit their free throws?"

For what it's worth, free throw shooting hasn't gotten worse in recent years, despite carping from many analysts about basketball players' declining fundamentals. But it hasn't gotten better, either. NBA players have made an average of about 75 percent of their free throws for the past 50 seasons. We'll look into just why that plateau exists another time. For now, I want to point out that while there are interesting reasons for choking at the line, there are ways for players and teams to improve their performance -- if they are willing to recalibrate some habits. And here are the big three: