BOSTON (AP) Kobe Bryant returned to the Los Angeles Lakers' starting lineup on Wednesday night after missing just two games due to a shoulder injury.

Bryant injured the shoulder in a collision with Seattle's Reggie Evans in the first minute of Friday night's game against Seattle. It's the same shoulder he sprained earlier in the season, keeping him out six games.

Bryant was not listed among the probable starters against Boston. The change was announced about five minutes before tipoff.

Lakers forward Karl Malone, out since Dec. 21 with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee, began practicing this week. He said he expects to return Friday night against Minnesota.

``We are close,'' he said. ``I just want to run up and down (in practice on Thursday). ... It's going to take me some games to get back into it.''

Malone said he could have played against Boston, but coach Phil Jackson didn't want him to risk re-injuring the knee. If he makes it back on Friday, Malone will have missed 39 games _ almost half the season; he had missed only 10 games total in his first 18 years in the NBA, just six of them due to illness or injury.

Heading into the game against Boston, Los Angeles was 22-17 without Malone and 19-5 with him.

Bryant also missed seven games with a cut on his right index finger that he said he hurt Jan. 29 when he accidentally put his hand through a glass window while trying to move boxes in his garage.