Dallas star Dirk Nowitzki was unable to escape a one-game suspension for the Flagrant-2 foul he committed against Jazz forward Matt Harpring in Utah's win over the Mavericks last Friday night.

The Mavs forward on Sunday morning was suspended by the NBA without pay — it will cost him $164,344.58 of his roughly $18 million annual salary — and had to sit out Sunday's road game against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Nowitzki — a former NBA MVP — was ejected from Friday's game after hitting Harpring in the face with a flailing, backhanded fist.

It happened during the fourth quarter of a physical game, on a play in which Harpring had pushed the Mavs big man — after Jazz center Kyrylo Fesenko admittedly had, moments earlier and on the same play, pushed Nowitzki in the back to get a rebound and make a layup.

The one-game suspension is mandated when a player swings or punches with a fist or open hand — even if no contact is made.

Contact was made between Nowitzki, who hasn't commented since the incident, and Harpring.

Harpring later told reporters he's been hit harder before, though he also was quoted by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram as having said, "He just turned around and threw a nice little punch. I mean, what are you going to do? I can't retaliate. I don't want to get fined. I don't want to lose any money there. So you just take it."

The game's opposing coaches had somewhat different opinions of the play.

"He (Nowitzki) had a pretty good shot at him from where I was looking," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said.

Said Dallas coach Rick Carlisle on Friday: "It appeared to me to be accidental."

The Mavericks didn't learn of the ruling until the league formally made it Sunday.

Boston star Kevin Garnett was suspended one game for a similar incident earlier this season involving University of Utah product Andrew Bogut of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Nowitzki also was suspended one game last season for knocking Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko to the floor during a March game in Utah, though that time he was not ejected.