Anyone who's watched or listened to Mike Brown's pre- or post-game media availability knows that one of his favorite bits is to knock on the side of his head as a physical expression of "knock on wood." (Coach set a record after practice on Friday with three knocks.)

A perfect example came before Tuesday's matchup with Atlanta, when the NBA's current Coach of the Year was asked about his team getting lured into the physical scrapes that have marred other series.

"In the four years since I've been here, I don't think our guys have ever gotten caught up against individuals where they've put the team in jeopardy," said Brown. "And knock on wood, hopefully it doesn't happen."

Whether the Cavaliers have been fortunate through the first six games of the postseason or whether it's because they're loaded cool-headed veterans on a bigger mission, there hasn't been the bad blood that's flowing - (in the Lakers-Rockets series, literally) - around the rest of the playoffs.

Actually, aside from Zaza Pachulia inadvertently breaking Sasha Pavlovic's nose or poking Delonte West in the eye, the greatest adversity the Wine and Gold have faced through the first part of the postseason was in the fourth quarter of the previous round's Game 2, when Detroit's Will Bynum forced Mike Brown to bring his starters in to salvage the blowout. 

Other than that, it's been an adversity-free postseason - knock on wood - through the first round-and-a-half.

By this time last year, the Wizards - namely DeShawn Stevenson - had tried to get extremely physical with LeBron James, sending him to the deck every time he got within striking distance of the hoop. Yet, the Chosen One and the Cavaliers kept their collective cool.

"We have a few guys on this team that could lose their cool - (I'm not going to say who)," smiled James. "But hopefully, guys on our team know how important the game is and try not to take things personally. But there comes a time where somebody can really test your manhood and you may have to react. You don't want to be disrespected."

It's not that teams are necessarily "dirty" when they physically get into it with one another. It's more the repetition of competition.

"You're seeing the same team over and over again," reasoned Coach Brown. "You've heard every single tendency that opponent has. It's like when you were younger and you're playing against your brother for five straight days. After that third day, it's not going to be a basketball game, it's going to be a brawl. The bigger, stronger guy is probably going to win it. But somebody's going to get popped."

The Magic weathered the storm against Philadelphia when Dwight Howard got a one-game suspension for elbowing Samuel Dalembert. On Wednesday night, Kobe Bryant planted one in Ron Artest's throat, but it was Artest who got the heave-ho when he confronted the Lakers' superstar.

Mike Brown is very familiar with the former Defensive Player of the Year's mental makeup from his days in Indiana.

"If you play against Ron, you better be mentally tough. Or you're going to lose."

There's no chance anyone could accuse the Cavaliers of not being mentally tough. But as the playoffs wear on, the challenges to that will are about to increase.

"We come to play basketball," said LeBron. "It's not about disrespecting people or taking cheap shots at people. We're all men. You just have to go out and try to protect yourself. But at the same time, we just want to go out and play basketball and have fun. That's what we do."

The league's reigning MVP quickly added: "But we're not going to back down from anybody. We got Ben Wallace on the team. He won't let us do that."