Who’s your X-Factor for game 2?

We all know thatDamian Lillardmust play well for theTrail Blazers击败ThunderTuesday night at the Rose Garden. Conversely, everyone in Oklahoma City knows thatRussell Westbrookmust keep his shot selection under control or the Thunder will be in trouble.

But what role player will make the biggest difference in tonight’s game? Here are my nominees:

Al-Farouq Aminu

Aminu attempted only one 3-pointer in game one. I say “only” because that has decidedly not been the norm for him in playoff games in recent years — he’s averaging over six per game the last three years.

The Blazers didn’t need Chief’s 3-pointers on Sunday night, with plenty of other players stepping up to fill the void. Presumably the Thunder defense will correct that and Aminu will get repeated clean looks tonight.

Maurice Harkless

The refs were not shy with their whistles during game one. For the most part, that helped the Blazers as it seemed to knock the usually physical Thunder out of rhythm a bit. MoeHarklesswas the one exception — struggling with foul trouble he played only 21 minutes and had more fouls (5) than points (2).

This was in stark contrast to the revitalizedHarklesswe’ve all been watching since the all-star break:

Dennis Schroder

Schroderplayed aggressively on Sunday. That’s about the only positive thing you can say about him.

The Thunder’s sixth man went 0-for-7 on 3-pointers and finished with just 11 points on 17 total field goal attempts. Those areRussell Westbrookon an off-night numbers. Yuck.

Nevertheless,Schroderis the one player off the bench for the Thunder who can continue to put pressure on the Blazers defense when their starters are resting (insertRaymond Feltonjoke here). If he can matchSeth CurryandRodney Hoodin production, and not just raw shot attempts, it will be a major shot in the arm for the Thunder’s bench.

杰克门外汉

Aminu was mostly fine.Harklesswas anonymous.Zach Collinswas awful.

Despite the underwhelming performances from the Blazers other forwards,Laymandid not see a second of action on Sunday. You have to imagine that if the rest of the frontcourt continues to underwhelm, head coachTerry Stottswill eventually be forced to callLayman’s number.

If Jake can play solid defense and create some hustle buckets his contributions will already outpace what we saw fromHarklessandCollinsin game one. After his impressive regular season, there’s reason to hope thatLaymancan be the change-of-pace bench player the Blazers need if all other options fail.

Paul George’s shouder

WasPaul George’s 4-for-15 performance on 3-pointers on Sunday a consequence of his hurting shoulder? Or just cold shooting?

He has looked worse since the shoulder injury first forced him to miss games:

But poor shooting also wasn’t completely unheard of this season fromGeorge:

It’s kind of cheating to say that George could be an X-factor given his superstar status, but it certainly looks like there’s a possibility his shoulder swings this series.

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Harkless, Aminu, Schroder,Layman, or George’s shoulder? Who’s your X-Factor? Let us know in the comments!