NBA Playoffs 2012 Predictions: Biggest X-Factor's to Swing Playoff Picture

The stars dominate the NBA playoffs, but you can’t win a title without plenty of help from role players.

This year, the championship is wide open, with many of the best players in the league entering the playoffs tired, banged up and lacking the crispness that you expect come playoff time.

Blame the lockout.

Because of that, role players will play a bigger part than they would in most seasons.

Here are three players that have the talents to either tip the scales in their teams' favor or sink their squads in the blink of an eye with poor play.

Ramon Sessions, PG, LA Lakers

This midseason acquisition has paid off thus far for the Lakers. They finally got some speed at the position.

Problem is, there’s a ton of top-flight point guards in the Western Conference that are all playoff-tested.

Sessions has never made the NBA’s postseason before.

He has certainly shown flashes of being the savor and needs to keep up his aggressiveness to ensure the Lakers offense stays balanced.

Kobe Bryant needs Sessions—he can’t do it himself on the perimeter—and the way Sessions plays will likely determine how far the Lakers go in the playoffs.

CJ Watson, PG, Chicago Bulls

The various injuries of Derrick Rose have really handicapped the Bulls, but Watson has been able to fill in spectacularly in his absence.

His range stretches out defenses to keep the passing lane open, and recently Watson has vastly improved his passing and decision making.

Remember that dagger of a three he hit a few weeks back against the Heat to send the game into OT while Rose was on the bench aching? That’s a very likely scenario in the postseason.

Will he make the shot this time?

Stephen Jackson, SF, San Antonio Spurs

He’s baaaaack.

After bouncing around the league for almost a decade, Jackson is back with the only team he ever won a ring with.

His style of play is a perfect compliment to Tim Duncan, who is really nothing more than a strong role player at this point. As long as Jackson is continuing to run off screens on the baseline, MVP candidate Tony Parker will find him.

Jackson has averaged 11 points—and 3.2 rebounds and assists—in his last five games. He seems to be fitting into his new role quite nicely.

It’s no secret that the Spurs are the oldest team in the playoffs,—and Jackson doesn’t help that stat—but his youthful exuberance is going to be essential for what the Spurs hope is going to be a deep run into the postseason. 

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