CLEVELAND -- Delonte West once told me he thinks everyone on Cleveland's roster was a class clown back in the day.

But if the NBA were a school, Principal Stern would be handing out merit badges to the Cavaliers, parading them around as role models during packed assemblies in the gymnasium, praising them to parents and colleagues alike as a delight, a joy and a pleasure to have on campus.

While the little terrors in Los Angeles, Houston, Boston, Orlando and Denver take cheap shots at each other -- all but meeting shirtless on the playground to knuckle up -- the Cavaliers are all smiles, skipping off to class arm in arm, joshing innocently with one another, getting straight A's on their progress reports.

They have yet to take their Finals, of course, but so far they've been nothing but model students.

I can almost hear an exasperated Stern now, face red as a Rockets jersey, paddle in hand:

"Rafer, why can't you be more like Mr. Williams? Have you ever seen him haul off and smack an opponent on the back of the head? If you kept your cool like those Cavaliers, you'd be on the court with the rest of your teammates in Game 3 instead of in detention. This isn't the playground at P.S. 131, young man. Such thuggish behavior will not be tolerated here!'

"And how about you, Mr. Fisher? What do you have to say for yourself? I have to tell you, I'm more than a little bit disappointed. I didn't expect this from you -- body checking poor Mr. Scola like that. You could have broken his jaw. Do you think Mr. West would ever do something like that?'

Compared to the chin checking and dysfunction going on elsewhere -- Kenyon Martin sending Dirk Nowitzki flailing toward the baseline with a forearm shiver; Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest throwing 'bows and going nose to nose; Von Wafer being sent to his (locker) room by Rick Adelman -- Cavs-Hawks is the series from Mayberry.

It's "Happy Days" on TV Land in a world full of raunchy MTV reality shows.

The Q's 20,000-plus fans stand in unison in burgundy T-shirts, waving white towels at their heroes. Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" blares from the loudspeakers as grinning spectators, young and old, sway to the corny '80s beat. Moondog, the team mascot, and nameless Cavs employees entertain folks with playful skits on the JumboTron.

With the Cavs acing every test they've taken, it's like some sort of hoop utopia in here.

Even the defenseless Hawks, walloped 105-85 in Game 2 Thursday night, get caught up in the frivolity. They're being punked like Ashton Kutcher -- LeBron throwing down Dunk Contest slams in traffic, 7-foot-3-inch Zydrunas Ilgauskas tossing no-look feeds over his shoulder, the jump-shooting Wally Szczerbiak backing folks down like a brute for points in the paint -- and yet they can't seem to muster up any disdain for their good-humored hosts.

Zaza Pachulia, a bulldog who scuffled with seemingly every Miami Heat player in the first round, taps Mo Williams on the chest, acknowledging that he fouled him in the second quarter. Maurice Evans, his team trailing by 18 less than 18 minutes into the game, extends a hand to James, picking him up after fouling him on a drive to the basket.

These are the same Hawks who went all WWE on the Celtics last season, mean-mugging and talking so much trash they had Paul Pierce yelling obscenities and throwing up mysterious signs with his hands.

But here, it's as if Atlanta, which bickered in the press about strategy after Game 1, admires the harmony and chemistry the Cavs have, wishing they could be part of it.

"They're out there laughing and joking and having fun," Evans said after the 27-point shellacking in Game 1. "And that in itself is demoralizing -- when you have a team full of guys just playing together and picking you apart.

"It doesn't matter if it's the first quarter or the fourth quarter, they constantly put pressure on you from all over the floor. And, to be honest, we need to copy that style a little bit. It has to be a team thing."

While others are fighting to the death to advance, the Cavaliers are making such a mockery of the first two rounds that some are wondering if they could use a little adversity. I mean, they're going to be challenged at some point. How will they respond when their lead is only three points instead of 36, as it was Thursday?

James, whose team is 6-0 with a victory margin of 18 points this postseason, isn't concerned about that.

"If a team can stay away from it and win a championship, why not?" he said, when asked if a club needs to face adversity. "We're ready for anything. We don't go into a game saying 'win by 20' or 'win by double digits.' We go into a game to execute and take one possession at a time and try to get better. If that causes us to win by 20 or causes us to win by two, we're ready for that challenge."

Let's be honest: There can be fun and value in fighting -- fighting to overcome an incredibly tough opponent, fighting tooth and nail to reach your goal. To that end, James says the Lakers and Rockets and Celtics and Magic aren't the only ones fighting.

They just aren't winning by knockout.

"I'm having fun," James said, when asked if he longs for some of the scuffling and nastiness on display in some of the other series. "You're not? Sorry. I'm having a ball."

And when he's watching the fun-loving Cavs, so is Principal Stern.

Chris Broussard is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine.

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