Their four-game sweep of the Wizards gives them plenty of time to rest up.
CLEVELAND (AP) — He won't bust out a bucket and hose to wash any of his fleet of vehicles and he doesn't mow the lawn, either. With no meaningful games to play for a few days, LeBron James will find other ways to pass his time.
Like walking his dog.
"His name is King," James said. "It's a Cane Corso, an Italian Mastiff. Big as you."
Now there's a sight: King James walking the King.
Hey, a guy's gotta stay busy somehow.
James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are in watch-and-wait mode. After an historic four-game sweep of the undermanned Washington Wizards in the opening round of the NBA playoffs, the Cavs don't know who their next opponent will be.
They are certain it will be the winner of the New Jersey-Toronto series, which will resume Friday night with the Nets holding a 3-2 lead over the Raptors.
Game 7 hope
James has taken sides.
"Hopefully Toronto will win again," he said with a smile, "and we'll get a little bit more rest."
If the Nets win Friday, Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals will be played Sunday at Quicken Loans Arena.
If the Raptors win again and force a decisive Game 7 Sunday, the Cavaliers likely will host Game 1 next Tuesday.
Either way, Cleveland's next opponent will have a one-day turnaround and travel compared to the R&R the Cavs are enjoying.
In the interim, they're making the most of the down time. It's a chance to get their bodies healed and to refocus their minds as they continue a postseason run that is off to the best start possible. Cleveland had never before swept a series in its 37-year history.
Light practice
On Wednesday, coach Mike Brown ran the team through a light practice, which ended with shooting drills and free throws. He's concerned about the team getting too relaxed during its playoff pause.
"You sit out too long there's a chance you can get some rust," Brown said. "That's part of the reason we brought them in today, just to smell the gym and get a taste of it.
"With time off, especially this time of year, you never really know where that fine line is. You do as much as you can to stay mentally into it and physically into it."
Before leaving the floor, James and Drew Gooden cleared the entire ball rack by heaving length-of-the-court shots.
None went in, but James grazed the rim on two attempts and blasted a spotlight hanging from the bottom of the giant scoreboard with another.
They've got more days to kill before they have to get serious again. Rest is important, but does there come a point when too much is harmful?
Limit
"There's nothing like playing in games," guard Larry Hughes said. "At this point in the year, two, three, four days [off] is OK. But you get longer than four days and it becomes kind of tough."
Although the final scores were relatively close — the Cavs' biggest win was by 15 in the opener — the four games against the Wizards, who were missing injured All-Stars Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler, were rather one-sided.
The Cavaliers dominated, though, not as thoroughly as they probably should have.
"I think we have another level to go to," said Hughes, who scored 27 points in Game 1 and averaged 19 points in the series. "Getting a team like Washington down by 15 points in every game but the last one, we have to do a better job of keeping them down."
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