Quest for the Cup! or Trophy as it were. with the 4 remaining teams (soon to be three thanks to Orlando's 3-1 Series lead and Series domination of the woeful Cleveland Cavaliers) i wanted to pick an "X-Factor" for each team. call it the unsung hero, or a possible key player to winning, or just an under-rated guy. whatever one wants to call it, let's call it ... um, i don't know ... X-Factor?LA Lakers: this one is kinda hard as i haven't seen too much in the X-Factor department. you have Kobe and to a lesser extent Gasol as star players. then a bunch of guys under-performing. one could say Lamar Odom epitomizes the definition of "X-Factor". he shows up to play and the Lakers become a formidable juggernaut. but too often he disappears (even though he's 6' 10"). so my choice is Trevor Ariza. his defense, 3-point shooting, and aggressive drives to the basket encapsulate an X-Factor.
Denver Nuggets: Birdman? nah. JR Smith? nah. its Nene. he can pass for a big man, rebound, and hold his own defensively in the middle of the paint. with Nene, Birdman and K-Mart can do what they do. without him, Denver has a huge hole in the middle. plus he lead the Nuggets in assists in their two (so far) victories versus LA in the Western Conference Finals.
Cleveland Cavaliers: i'm gonna go Anderson Varejao but its pretty lame pickings. Cleveland has devolved into "LeBron ... and everybody else". nobody has really stepped up to play alongside LeBron but i'm gonna go Anderson and his energy on the glass and defensive end.
Orlando Magic: Michael Pietrus. the Frenchman has turned into a mighty good defensive cover as well as a big time 3-point shooter. he has that swagger that the Magic have lacked a little bit (well, at least in the early rounds of the playoffs). he comes off the bench but is always on the floor during crunch-time.
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