Shaun Livingston Apologizes for Ejection vs. Trail Blazers in Game 4

It was important for Golden State Warriors backup guard Shaun Livingston to stay available during Monday's Game 4 in case superstar and league MVP Stephen Curry encountered any problems with the MCL he sprained in the first round of the playoffs.   

Instead, Livingston was out of the game before halftime after he picked up two technical fouls for yelling at official Scott Foster during the late stages of the second quarter. 

Curry, who was in his first game back since suffering the injury, didn't need any help as he dropped 40 points—17 in overtime—to overcome a 16-point deficit and take down the Portland Trail Blazers 132-125 to take a 3-1 series lead. 

On Wednesday, Livingston apologized for his actions and his early exit, one that could have cost the Warriors a playoff game, per Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle: "You don’t ever want to leave your brothers out there, so I was wrong for that. Definitely, it was a mistake on my behalf to get ejected. I lost my cool. I made a mistake. Intentionally, I was going for the technical. I wasn’t going for the ejection."

Having built a reputation as one of the calmer players in the league who's provided valuable minutes off the bench for 10 different teams, his outburst was a surprise to teammate Draymond Green, per Simmons. 

"Shaun is a hard guy to get off his square. That was new to me,” Green said. "It was needed, and it was fun to see. … If Shaun’s doing that, there’s a reason.”

Simmons noted that Livingston was going for one technical to get the officials to start blowing their whistles a bit more against Portland. But because of his unrelenting pursuit of Foster, a second technical quickly followed, and he was gone.

Without Curry and Livingston on Monday night, it could have been a much different result, but Livingston was thankful to say the least that Golden State's star was back on the court.

"Thank God we’ve got him,” Livingston said. “Thank God he’s back. I was just thankful.”

Livingston will try to stay on the court and on the bench for Wednesday night's Game 5 as the Warriors look to close out the series at Oracle Arena and reach their second consecutive Western Conference Finals. 

Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com.