Cleveland clobbers Charlotte

CLEVELAND (AP) — LeBron James and a few of his teammates hung around after their postgame showers and watched the final minutes of Boston’s game against Houston on TV.

They’ll see the Celtics in person soon enough.

The NBA champions are coming. The Cavaliers are ready.

James scored 21 points before grabbing an early seat on the bench, Mo Williams added 15 and Cleveland warmed up for its highly anticipated matchup with Boston by blowing out the Charlotte Bobcats 111-81 on Wednesday night, raising the Cavaliers’ record at home to 18-0.

19-0 isn’t a given.

Friday, the Celtics will arrive for a game pitting the Eastern Conference’s premier powers, a rematch of last season’s heated seven-game conference semifinal and a possible tease of what could come this spring.

Boston holds a 1-0 edge this season after beating Cleveland 90-85 at home in its opener, when the green-and-white raised their 17th title banner beforehand as the Cavs waited in their locker room.

“They got us up there,” Williams said. “It’s our turn. It’s payback time.”

It’s only January, but it will feel like June.

“I can’t sit here and say it’s another game,” James said. “We’re just looking forward to the challenge. If we want to be the best team, we have to beat the best. Boston is the best until somebody takes their crown.”

Daniel “Boobie” Gibson and Wally Szczerbiak scored 15 apiece and Anderson Varejao 14 as Cleveland shot 60 percent from the floor and improved to 28-6.

Raymond Felton led Charlotte with 15 points and Gerald Wallace had 14 for the Bobcats, who went 0-3 against the Cavs this season losing by an average of 22 points per game.

With James on the bench, Cleveland blitzed the Bobcats with a 14-2 spurt to open the second quarter and pushed the lead to 43-14.