Yesterday, I told you some players that could be X Factors for the lower seeds in the Eastern Conference, who need to play well if any teams want to pull an upset in the East. The only lower seed that won yesterday in the East that played was the Atlanta Hawks. My X Factor, Jamal Crawford had 23 points. Good showing. Today I will tell you some X Factors for the lower seeded Western Conference teams.

Grizzlies SG Tony Allen. Tony Allen has been deep in the playoffs before, he was on the Celtics' championship run in 2008, and he knows how the NBA Playoffs work. He is going to have to play extraordinarily good in this series with the absence of Rudy Gay from the lineup. He is a guy who can create tempo for this Memphis Grizzlies team, leading the team in steals this season at 1.8 per game. He is a lightning bolt than can create, drive or kick with his speed and athleticism and could be a huge part of this season if he can put in 10+ games and come up with 3-6 assists per game, that could be just enough for the Memphis Grizzlies to make this a series.

Hornets C Emeka Okafor. The Los Angeles Lakers have a lot of size if you havent noticed. Lamar Odom is 6'10" swing man, and then you also have 7 footers Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. If there is a guy on this New Orleans Hornets team that NEEDS to play good for the Hornets even to have a chance at making this a series, it is Emeka Okafor. He is averaging about 10 points and ten rebounds a game, and needs to play good defense and have stellar offensive outputs for this series to be interesting.



Blazers SG Brandon Roy. Roy is coming off of surgeries on both of his knees. He has been an explosive big time shot maker and player in the past, but he has been slowing down heavily throughout the course of the season. One of the biggest questions for this series, is if, because it is playoff time, Brandon Roy will come out of his slump and show the Mavericks what he can really do. If Roy can show what he did the last couple seasons in the playoffs, the Mavericks will be in for a rude awakening. Brandon only had two points last night, and the Blazers lost. This man is the key for the Blazers.


Nuggets SG J.R. Smith. Everyone who pays attention at least a little bit to the NBA, knows who J.R. Smith is. He is one of the streakiest players in all of the National Basketball Association, but when he is on, he goes OFF. He will keep taking and making threes until he misses, and when he gets hot, he hits the fire status very quickly. If he has a good series, he has the potential to offset Kevin Durant's points on any given night, and they could steal one early in Oklahoma City. This, along with the Dallas/Portland series has the most upset potential in my opinion.

But thats what is good about the NBA Playoffs. Every team plays hard, all the team, and nothing is scripted or set in stone.

Should be another great day of basketball coming your way today. Let the games begin.

Oh, and the Grizzlies just beat the Spurs in Game One. And you heard THAT first, at the Sports Guru.

Pictures complement of http://www.sportsgrumblings.com/basketball/articles/content_images/JR%20Smith415X266.jpg and http://www.mkrob.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/brandon-roy.jpg