To Hack Or Not To Hack (-A-Ben)?

Following last night's euphoria-inducing beat-down of the Celtics, after the euphoria and Fruity Pebbles consumption died down, there was some discussion about Doc Rivers' seemingly desperate use of the Hack-A-Ben strategy late in the game. The consensus in the media, it seemed to me, was that this was a poor decision—just look how it worked out for Boston!—but I'm not so sure.Ben Wallace is the worst free throw shooter of all time, in case you've forgotten, so if the Hack-a-Shaq is going to be effective against anyone, ever, this is the guy. Wallace's career FT% is 41.8%; however, his 2008-09 FT% is currently a lofty 45.5%, which still makes him the NBA's worst by a considerable margin. Never in his career has Ben cracked 49.0%.So does Hack-A-Ben pay dividends? Obviously, we cannot draw any conclusions based on one game's anecdotal evidence. What it boils down to is this: the Cavaliers' current Offensive Efficiency is 113.1—that is, the Cavs can be expected to score 1.131 points pe...