Cavaliers forward Kevin Love suffers eye injury in win vs. Heat

Cavaliers forward Kevin Love suffered an eye injury during Wednesday’s game against the Miami Heat and hopes to play in Thursday’s game against the Bulls

SI Wire | Feb 12, 2015

Cavaliers forward Kevin Love suffers eye injury in win vs. Heat /

Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love suffered an eye injury during Wednesday’s game against the Miami Heat.

Love has a right corneal abrasion after being hit by Heat guard Mario Chalmers in the third quarter of Cleveland’s 113-93 victory. Love tallied 12 points, six rebounds and four assists before leaving the game for good after the injury.

Love plans on traveling to Chicago for Thursday’s game against the Bulls, the team’s last game before the All-Star break. His injury will be re-evaluated and his status for the game will be determined later Thursday.

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NBA Players In Face Masks

Russell Westbrook started wearing a protective mask in March 2015 after an inadvertent knee to the face by teammate Andre Roberson led to surgery. Of course, Westbrook isn't the first NBA player to don a mask in the name of safety. Here are a few of the others.

LeBron James

Robert Duyos/Sun Sentinel/MCT via Getty Images

Kobe Bryant

Chris Paul

Bill Laimbeer

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Rip Hamilton

A.C. Green

Andrew Bogut

Harold Pressley

Joe Johnson

Will Perdue

John Starks

LeBron James

Lucious Harris

Jason Terry

Brandon Williams

Alonzo Mourning

Tracy McGrady

Bimbo Coles

Anderson Varejao

Rodney Rogers

Shawn Marion

Charles Oakley

Roy Hibbert

Lamond Murray

Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Antonio McDyess

Francisco Elson

Courtney Lee

DeSagana Diop

Charlie Villanueva

Andrei Kirilenko

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

Mickael Pietrus

Troy Murphy

Tyrus Thomas

Hedo Turkoglu

Wally Szczerbiak

“It feels O.K.," Love said to Cleveland.com. “I got hit pretty hard there by Chalmers. It was blurry for about 20-30 minutes, but I was able to regain my vision and I feel fine now. So I'm just happy we were able to sustain the lead and get the win."

Love says he might try wearing protective gear if the evaluation determines he needs extra protection for his eyes .

"We tried them on, but I'm not opposed to it but I obviously would like to go as I am now," Love said. "But we'll see.”

Love is averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds in his first season with Cleveland, who have moved into fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

- Scooby Axson

Published Feb 12, 2015

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