Kevin Love, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James

Kevin Love says he got tangled up with Kobe Bryant, causing him to suffer a left shoulder contusion. But he doesn't expect to miss any time.

(AP)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland Cavaliers can breathe a sigh of relief.

Power forward Kevin Love will not miss any time after suffering a left shoulder bruise in Wednesday night's 120-111 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Love left the game with less than a minute to go in the second quarter as his left arm just dangled. He hurried to the locker room in pain and General Manager David Griffin followed right behind him.

It didn't look good. He would not return.

It was the same shoulder he dislocated in the first round of the playoffs last season against the Boston Celtics. Love said his arm got tangled up with the Lakers' Kobe Bryant.

"At the time I didn't know really what it was," Love said. "It's just like when you get hit in the funny bone of the elbow. Shooting pain. It felt like fire was running down my arm. It's just a stinger and the doctor decided to just be cautions and use the break for it to feel better, but it actually feels OK right now."

He finished the game with eight points and six rebounds in 19 minutes.

Just two weeks ago, Love exited a contest against the Celtics in the third quarter with a left thigh bruise and ended up missing the next game. It was his only absence of the season, and he suited up for the next two.

The way Love held his shoulder and the expression on his face was reminiscent of when his postseason journey ended last spring as he sprinted to the locker room at Boston's TD Garden. Fortunately for the Cavaliers and Love, he will be in the starting lineup come Feb. 18 when they host the Chicago Bulls after the All-Star break.

It could have been much worse.

"It's not concerning," Love said of his shoulder history, "but it's the first time that sort of thing has happened [since my first shoulder injury]."