Warriors' Livingston to sit 1 game for low blow
Golden State Warriors guard Shaun Livingston has been suspended one game by the NBA for hitting Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki in the groin.
Livingston will serve the suspension Sunday night as the Warriors host the San Antonio Spurs.
The 7-foot Nowitzki was posting up the 6-foot-7 Livingston late in the third quarter when Livingston reached between Nowitzki’s legs and struck him in the groin. After a replay review, Livingston was assessed a flagrant foul 1.
After shouting in agony and bending over, Nowitzki reacted by turning around and briefly confronting Livingston, who insisted he did not mean to hit Nowitzki in that sensitive area.
“Well, I give him the benefit of the doubt because he’s really not that type of player,” Nowitzki said after the Mavs’ 123-110 loss to the Warriors. “He hasn’t been his entire career. I’m not really sure what he was trying to do there, if he was trying to get to the ball through my legs or anything. But like I said, he’s not a dirty player. He’s actually a really, really good dude, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.”
Livingston, who was booed by the American Airlines Center crowd every time he touched the ball the rest of the game, explained to reporters that he was attempting to get low and set an arm bar against Nowitzki to avoid being backed down.
“He kind of sat back to create space with his lower area, and it was just bad timing,” Livingston said. “Eleven years in the league, I haven’t had a dirty play. I haven’t made a name in this league by playing that way. It looked worse than it actually was.
“It’s Dirk Nowitzki. It’s a Hall of Fame player. You don’t do that to somebody like that.”
Information from ESPNDallas.com reporter Tim MacMahon contributed to this report.
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