INDEPENDENCE, Ohio - Kevin Love said he anticipates being in the Cavaliers' starting lineup on opening night of the 2015-16 season, but that goal was almost sabotaged.

His return from shoulder surgery was in jeopardy of being pushed back thanks to one of his teammates following the Cavaliers sweeping the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals last week at The Q.

You see, Love went onto the court to join his team in celebrating and that's where things almost took a turn for the worse.

"I walk out there, the teammate will remain nameless, I go up and give him a big hug [and I said] 'congratulations' and he takes his arm and he goes, 'Ah yeah man, good game' and just hits me right on the arm," Love playfully explained. "Some of the front office staff who was out there with me kind of had to grab me and said, 'Are you OK?'"

It turns out that while orange and yellow confetti was falling from the rafters and while the trophy presentation was going on, Love was in excruciating pain.

"I had one of those moments where I was like, 'Oh man, I'm going to have to go back to the locker room. How is that going to look? Will I have to have to sit down?' So I just tried to take a deep breath, calm myself and got home and iced as quickly as [possible]," Love said.

Everyone knew, but that slap on the arm confirmed Love isn't quite ready for contact portions of practice. He's doing fine now, but it did frightened him a bit.

"It had scared me because I haven't been hit like that," he said. "I look at it like now I know I can get hit like that. I don't want to get hit like that, but knowing that as time goes on, I can put more and more pressure on it and after the six weeks, I'll reassess where I'm at."

So if the Cavaliers do end up defeating the Golden State Warriors and winning the NBA title, it would be in Love's best interest if he gave his teammates time to settle down and regain their composure before approaching them on the court.

That arm has been through enough already.

"It was one of those deals where it was kind of shooting pain through my entire body, but I was a little woozy and kind of all over the place for a few minutes but I was able to calm myself down," Love said.