It happened a year ago when Boston made monster trades adding Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to Paul Pierce and a bunch of young role players. Would three veteran scorers who never won a title play together? Would Allen and Pierce - never very interested in defense - suddenly defend?

How would they deal with veteran coach Doc Rivers, who had never won a championship?

Conventional Basketball wisdom is the Celtics would have needed a few months to figure it out.

Instead, they roared out of training camp to a 20-2 start and became the best defensive team in the NBA, ending with a championship.

"K.G. [Garnett] was the key," said Brown. "He set the defensive tone, and they followed his lead. Guys who never cared that much about defending before were playing great team defense. They trusted each other."

Which brings us to the Cavs, the surprise team of the NBA after Thursday's 93-89 victory over Washington. The 25-4 Cavs are right behind the 27-3 Celtics in the race to be the best in the Eastern Conference.

Was it reasonable to expect the Cavs to win 50 games this season? Of course, assuming LeBron James stays healthy. But a 25-4 start with only five players remaining from this time a year ago?

It's a product of chemistry. . .make that trust. . .much like Boston a year ago.

Consider some of the questions at the start of the season. Would Mo Williams defend? It never was high on his pro priority list before being traded to the Cavs this summer. Would Delonte West blend with Williams, and are the two guards too small to be a starting backcourt? Ben Wallace also arrived in that huge February trade, but he was unhappy in Chicago. Would that continue in Cleveland?

The Cavs hoped the new players would buy into the defensive culture established by Brown. They believed James would help, because he's a star who does care about winning and is not a discipline problem.

But would James trust his new teammates enough to let West and Williams handle the ball while he ran off picks to get shots? Would he accept the new offense that meant he would not dominate the ball as much as before?

"You really don't have a clue when it all clicks in, or even if it will," said Brown.

That's because there are far more reasons for teams to pull apart than hang together. The average NBA coach lasts fewer than three years with a team. Most players make more than the coach, so why bother to listen to the guy? There soon will be another coach in a nice suit sitting in the same place.

Players hear from agents, girlfriends, wives, family and friends about how the coach isn't giving them enough shots or minutes. Not many people around a player saying, "You need to shoot less, pass more and your defense stinks."

Brown said he had to show trust in his players by "not playing LeBron 42 minutes every game. When I take him out and the other team goes on a run, I have to leave him on the bench to get his rest and let the other guys work through it."

Which the coach has done this season with James playing a career-low 36 minutes.

Brown said he had to empower his assistant coaches to really coach. He has designated John Kuester as offensive coordinator, Mike Malone has major input with the defense. They often speak in the huddle.

During a recent game, as the Cavs came off the court for a timeout, Brown pulled James aside and said, "You've got to get these guys to play harder, defend better."

Then he had James run the huddle, while Brown stayed out.

"You don't do that often, but the biggest thing that gets players to play together is peer pressure," said Brown. "When you have a guy like Ben Wallace - and he's been huge for us - and he's defending. Andy [Anderson Varejao] and Delonte [West] bring some grit. If those guys are defending and LeBron is defending and Z [Zydrunas Ilgauskas] is working hard, then the other guys fall in line. If they don't defend, how can they look a guy like Ben Wallace in the eye?"

Brown sometimes takes suggestions from the players about travel arrangements, approaches to practice and even some strategy.

"I don't agree to everything, but if it makes sense, I do it," he said. "I can't say that I want to trust them, and then ignore everything they say. Trust works both ways."

To reach this Plain Dealer columnist: terrypluto2003@yahoo.com; 216-999-4674

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