Mavericks at New Orleans Hornets News New Orleans Hornets

Scouting the Hornets

They have lost two in a row, and their only win came at home against a Sacramento team that pushed them to the limit. ... Chris Paul is off to a fabulous start, averaging 28 points and 8.5 assists. He typically torments the Mavericks . Last year, he missed a triple double by one rebound in one meeting and a quadruple double by three steals in another. ... New center Emeka Okafor doesn't yet have the lob-pass-for-dunks chemistry that Paul had with Tyson Chandler. ... Power forward David West, another longtime nemesis for the Mavericks , has started slowly, averaging 15.5 points and 5.5 rebounds, both well off of his averages last season.

Scouting the Mavericks

The Mavericks have lost four in a row at New Orleans and didn't stay within 10 points in either setback last season. Hard to believe they once won 21 in a row against this franchise. ... Dallas has been strong defensively so far but has yet to get its offense in gear. The Mavericks were shooting under 41 percent through three games and had yet to top 95 points. ... Three of the team's top six scorers are reserves, with Jason Terry, J.J. Barea and Kris Humphries combining for an average of nearly 32 points per game. ... Jason Kidd shot just 23 percent in four games against the Hornets last season and was only 22.7 percent from 3-point range.

Eddie Sefko

8:30 p.m. today, ESPN, FSSW; ESPN-FM (103.3), KFLC-AM (1270 in Spanish).

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