Players are united by the common purpose of winning, but teammates are also rivals. They compete for playing time. They sometimes compete, indirectly, for money. In the salary-cap era, one teammate's new break-the-bank contract can send another out the door. A lot of the fist bumps, high-fives and backslaps can be more for show than a reflection of true closeness.

Which brings us to the Cleveland Cavaliers , who have swept two series to advance to the NBA's Eastern Conference finals starting Wednesday against the Orlando Magic.

Watch the Cavs and the affection for one another is obvious. When a team member makes a good play, the bench erupts in celebration.

To be sure, league Most Valuable Player LeBron James' brilliance is the biggest factor in the Cavaliers' success. Cleveland's superb team defense also has been integral.

But the players also credit what they describe as a true bond of friendship that extends throughout the roster.

"It's very important," center Zydrunas Ilgauskas said. "You don't get that a lot, especially in the NBA. Once everything's finished, usually guys go home and don't hang out. But these guys are different. We go to each other's house, watch the game, hang out. On the road, we go to dinner together. It's not something you can fake. You either have it or you don't. But this team has it."

Guard Daniel Gibson described the Cavs as a "brotherhood."

"There are no egos or anything like that," he said. "You look forward to coming in and going to work every day because we have so much fun."

Gibson has spent all three of his NBA seasons with the Cavs, so he might not know how rare that is. Joe Smith has played for seven other teams -- some more than once -- since being the top pick of the 1995 draft.

He said he has been on teams where players all liked each other, but their relationship was often limited.

"You'd have small cliques among the team," Smith said. "You might have two or three people who hang out, and two or three others that hang out and so on down the line. That's something you don't get here. Here, if one person is doing something, we're all invited. We all try to make it our business to show up to whatever our teammate has going on. That's very unusual."

Players point to James as the biggest reason for the camaraderie. They say he is a superstar who doesn't act above his teammates. That's not necessarily typical. Michael Jordan wasn't beloved by his some teammates who believed his ultra-competitiveness had a nasty edge and tended to go over the line. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was regarded as aloof. Kobe Bryant isn't known for his selflessness.

"I kind of compare (James) more to a guy like Magic (Johnson)," Gibson said. "Magic and him have that same kind of smile and personality, the way they carry themselves."

His teammates describe James as simply one of the boys.

"I've heard about guys of his caliber who kind of separate themselves," Smith said. "But LeBron is in the middle of all jokes, in the middle of all conversations.

"He wants to be around us. He enjoys being around us. I think what he gives us is what we give him back. I think he appreciates that just as much as we appreciate what he gives us."

Rookie Darnell Jackson plays sparingly. Players at the end of the bench often feel excluded, but Jackson said not so in Cleveland.

"I look at all these guys as brothers," he said. "The friendship is real. If there are people think that it's not real, it is real. This team is so close, it's ridiculous."

Gibson said general manager Danny Ferry deserves much of the credit for assembling a team with chemistry in mind. Ferry deflects the praise.

"I can pretend that I had all the answers and that I knew the group would be as close as they are," he said. "But I'd be lying. You're dealing with people. Fortunately, we've got a group of people who like each other and care for each other."

brabinowitz@dispatch.com