Shaun Livingston suspended for low-blow on Dirk Nowitzki

Not typically known as a dirty player, the Warriors’ Shaun Livingston shocked the NBA and Dirk Nowitzki with a cheap shot to the Mavericks star’s groin during a game Saturday.

Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks and Shaun Livingston of the Golden State Warriors are probably the last two people you would imagine to see in an NBA scuffle, but that is exactly what occurred after Livingston took an unprovoked cheap shot to Nowitzki’s groin on Saturday. As a result, Livingston has been suspended by the NBA for tonight’s matchup with the San Antonio Spurs.

In case you missed the controversial play, here is a video in which Livingston can be clearly seen punching Nowitzki in the groin while being backed down in the post:

The one-game suspension is essentially a slap on the wrist, considering that Golden State has had the top spot in the Western Conference locked up for a while now, leading the second-place Houston Rockets by an astonishing 10 games with five games remaining in the regular season. Expect Golden State to rest its key players during a stretch of meaningless over the course of the next week, so Livingston’s absence tonight should not make too much of an impact tonight on the Warriors.

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The suspension could, however, indirectly have a major impact on the playoff picture in the West. Gregg Popovich and the Spurs have climbed up the ladder in the Western Conference after a slow start to the season, and are sitting just two games behind Houston for second place as they enter the final week of the regular season.

Already facing a Warriors team with nothing to play for, Livingston’s suspension gives San Antonio even more of an opportunity to sneak into the top half of the conference and secure home-court advantage for the first round of the playoffs, and possibly even further. Livingston may not be a perennial All-Star like teammate and MVP candidate Steph Curry, but he provides a veteran presence off the bench and potential mismatches as a 6-foot-7 point guard.

The Spurs emergence as of late and the impact of Livingston’s absence tonight are symbolic of how close the playoff race in the Western Conference really is, and how far above the rest of the pack the Warriors are. Regardless of how high the Spurs can climb over the next five games, the Golden State Warriors remain the team to beat in the Western Conference.

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