If you can't stop Chris Paul, you aren't going to beat the Hornets. CP3 is that good.
The Hornets defeated the Mavericks 104--92 Saturday night before another sold-out Arena and took a one-game lead in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The series resumes on Tuesday at 6 o'clock at the Arena before moving to Dallas.
Paul is the league's best point guard and worthy of beating out Kobe Bryant for the MVP. Bryant should receive a lifetime achievement award instead of the MVP this season.
Paul scored 35 points with 10 assists against the Mavs.
Hornets coach Byron Scott told Paul at halftime told Paul to be more aggressive and look to score. Paul listened to his coach and almost never stopped scoring. In the second half, he was unstoppable, scoring 24 points on an assortment of jumpers, floaters and drives. Doubts of winning in the Hornets' mind disappeared.
The Mavs have no chance to win if point guard Jason Kidd doesn't force Paul to expend some energy on defense. Kidd finished with 11 points, but took only 5 shots.
"I have to be more aggressive," said Kidd. "Make the shots or miss them, I have to take them."
"We have to make Paul play more defense," said Mavs coach Avery Johnson. They must also figure out to keep the ball out of Paul's hands, which isn't easy. Paul has seen just about every type of defense and trap imaginable this season. Johnson said the Mavs attempted to trap Paul several times, but were foiled by Paul's quickness, athleticism and craftiness.
"About all you can do with Paul is hope he misses," said Kidd."Just make as possible on him. He's been doing this all season."
In best-of-7 series, the Game 1 winner takes the series nearly 80 per cent of the time. When it's the home team that wins, the number goes up a whopping 86 per cent.
I could be argued that the Mavs lost every matchup with the exception of Dirk Nowitzki's face-off with David West at power forward. And that one was very close to a draw.
Nowitzki and West were called for double technical fouls after jawing at each other late in the game. West described his conversation with Nowitzki as :just two adults talking." Paul advised reporters to look at West's fat lip if they wanted to figure out the root of the problem.
There was nothing about the Hornets' free throws in the first half. Not only did the Bees not shoot many of them, they didn't make many either. They were 2-of-7 before the half. That drastically changed in the second half when the Hornets made 16 of 19 foul shots.
Hornets sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic battled foul trouble in much of Game 1, but he still was able to throw in 4 of 8 3-pointers. That extended his streak to 46 consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer.
The Mavs' edge in playoff experience showed in the first half, when Scott said his team was anxious and rushed its offense and its defensive rotations. But the Hornets settled down in the second half, shooting 56.1 per cent and outscoring the Mavs 64-40.
"We can't worry about how many years guys have been here and all that stuff," said West. "We've got to get beyond that and play out best between the lines."
The Mavs starters entered Game 1 with a combined 325 playoff appearances and 255 starts, led by Kidd's 100 games, all starts. The Hornets' starters had 97 playoff games and 56 starts, with Stojakovic accounting for 59 games and 46 starts.
The Mavs returned to Dallas after the game.
"We've got two days to sit on this and hopefully find a way to slow down Paul a little bit," said Nowitzki.. "The team that loses has to go back and adjust and find ways to get it done the next game."
Hornets own George Shinn made pregame comments to the crowd and unveiled the team's Southwest Division championship banner, whichis hanging inside the Arena. Saints owner Tom Benson was at the game, sitting courtside with Shinn, Fans cheered when Shinn and Benson, hand-in-hand, were introduced to the crowd and shown on the overhead screen.
POLL HAS KOBE WINNING MVP
Kobe Bryant prevailed narrowly over Chris Paul on ESPN.com's balloting for MVP as many expect to happen in the official voting results.
