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Tony Dejak/Associated Press

There is no official NBA postseason MVP award. There is a regular-season award and a Finals award, but not an equivalent to the NHL's Conn Smythe Trophy, which goes to the most valuable player throughout the playoffs. But let's imagine for a moment there were one. Who would be the front-runners?

Much of the criteria would remain the same as what it is in the regular season, but some aspects of it would necessarily be ratcheted up even more. For instance, winning would be paramount, particularly this early. You just couldn't justify giving it to someone whose team didn't make it out of the first round.

The other aspect that is essential is the player which does the most to carry his team to their success. For that reason, we've selected just one player from each series. In cases where the series is not yet decided, the advantage was given to the team that currently has the lead or home-court advantage.

They are ranked in ascending order here based on their overall performance and the above criteria.