The Mavericks must be having flashbacks of last year’s playoffs when the Warriors kept running them out of the gym. The Mavericks played no defense last night as the Hornets shot 60.8% from the floor! Dirk Nowitzki had another solid game to lead the way for the Mavericks with 27 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Brandon Bass was outstanding off the bench with 19 points and 8 rebounds in only 29 minutes. Jason Terry pitched in with 16 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists in 31 minutes off the bench. The Mavericks had the same problem as they did in game one as Josh Paul torched Jason Kidd for 32 points, 5 rebounds, 17 assists and 3 steals. The Mavericks are now down 2-0 to the Hornets in this series.

It seems as if Dirk Nowitzki’s words fired the Hornets up and they stung the Mavericks on Saturday. The Mavericks only shot 33.3% from the floor and they were outscored 64-40 in the 2nd half which explains the loss. Dirk Nowitzki backed up his talk with 31 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Josh Howard was only 4 of 16 from the floor and he finished with 17 points and 8 rebounds. Jason Kidd finished with 11 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 steals, but, he didn’t play any defense as Chris Paul finished with 35 points, 3 rebounds, 10 assists and 4 steals. Paul also shot 15 of 23 from the floor and if Kidd doesn’t man up on defense against Paul this could be a very short series.

Dirk Nowitzki has been running his mouth a little bit about rather playing the Hornets than the Lakers. Before he starts talking trash he better look in the mirror after his performance last season in the playoffs. Here is a look at the matchups:

POINT GUARD: Jason Kidd didn’t play up to expectations with the Mavericks after he was acquired in a trade with the Nets. Kidd played in 29 games (all starts) with the Mavericks this season and he averaged 9.9 points, 6.5 rebounds, 9.5 assists and 2.1 steals per game. It will be interesting to see if Kidd can step in up against Chris Paul.

Chris Paul is an outstanding player and he will be a finalist for the MVP Award this season. He played in 80 games (all starts) for the Hornets this year and he averaged 21.1 points, 4.0 rebounds, 11.6 assists and 2.7 steals per game. Paul will probably school the older Kidd in this matchup.

EDGE: HORNETS

SHOOTING GUARD: The Mavericks will likely start Jerry Stackhouse in this series with Jason Terry coming off the bench. Stackhouse played in 58 games (13 starts) for the Mavericks this season and he averaged 10.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. The Mavericks need Stackhouse to make Peja Stojakovic work hard on defense.

Peja Stojakovic is the Hornets’ main shooting threat from the perimeter. He played in 77 games (all starts) and he averaged 16.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. Stojakovic will likely hit a lot of big shots in this series for the Hornets.

EDGE: HORNETS

SMALL FORWARD: Josh Howard is an emerging talent for the Mavericks. He’s the #2 option on the offense behind Dirk Nowitzki. Howard played in 76 games (all starts) for the Mavericks this season and he averaged 19.9 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. Howard will likely dominate in this series due to the fact that Morris Peterson can’t guard him.

Morris Peterson is a good shooter from the perimeter and that’s his only real skill. Peterson played in 76 games (all starts) this season for the Hornets and he averaged 8.0 points, 2.7 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game.

EDGE: HUGE FOR THE MAVERICKS

POWER FORWARD: Dirk Nowitzki was the NBA’s MVP last season but he didn’t show up in the playoffs. He better make sure he’s focused because the Mavericks can’t win this series if he doesn’t perform up to his normal level. Nowitzki played in 77 games (all starts) this season for the Mavericks and he averaged 23.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game.

David West is a very underrated player and he will make Nowitzki work hard on both ends of the basketball court. West played in 76 games (all starts) for the Hornets this year and he averaged 20.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 blocks per game.

EDGE: VERY SLIGHT FOR THE MAVERICKS

CENTER: Erick Dampier should be much better than he is. If he doesn’t come to play in this series, Tyson Chandler will posterize him early and often. Dampier played in 72 games (64 starts) for the Mavericks this year and he averaged 6.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 1.5 blocked shots per game.

Tyson Chandler had his best season of his NBA career this year. He played in 79 games (all starts) for the Hornets this season and he averaged 11.8 points, 11.7 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 1.1 blocked shots per game. Look out for Chandler in this series.

EDGE: HORNETS

BENCH: Neither of these teams have a great bench. Jason Terry will be the main man off the bench for the Mavericks. He played in 82 games (34 starts) this season and he averaged 15.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.1 steals per game. Reserve power forward Brandon Bass had a good season and he would like nothing more than make his old team pay for never giving him a legit chance to play. Bass played in 79 games (1 start) for the Hornets this season and he averaged 8.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. Tyronn Lue was brought in late in the season to backup Jason Kidd. Lue played in 17 games (0 starts) for the Mavericks this season and he averaged 3.8 points, 0.8 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. Devean George is still around. He played in 53 games (4 starts) for the Mavericks this season and he averaged 3.7 points, 2.6 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. Malik Allen was brought in during the season and he played in 25 games (4 starts) for the Mavericks and he averaged 3.1 points, 2.7 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game. Antoine Wright also came over in the Jason Kidd trade with New Jersey. He played in 15 games (0 starts) for the Mavericks this season and he averaged 3.5 points, 1.5 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. Jose Juan Barea won’t likely get to play too much in this series. He played in 44 games (9 starts) for the Mavericks this season and he averaged 4.3 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. Eddie Jones is also still around. He played in 47 games (33 starts) for the Mavericks this season and he averaged 3.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.

The Hornets have a veteran look to their bench. Bonzi Wells will get a lot of time at small forward in this series. He played in 22 games (0 starts) for the Hornets this season and he averaged 8.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 1.1 steals per game. Backup guard Jannero Pargo could also get a lot of P.T. this season. Pargo played in 80 games (5 starts) for the Hornets this season and he averaged 8.1 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. Rasual Butler is a pretty decent shooter off the bench. He played in 51 games (8 starts) for the Hornets and he averaged 4.9 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. Mike James will be the backup point guard for the Hornets. He played in 21 games (0 starts) for the Hornets last season and he averaged 2.7 points, 0.8 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. Rookie small forward Julian Wright didn’t get much of a chance to show what he could do this season. He played in 57 games (1 start) for the Hornets this season and he averaged 3.9 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. Melvin Ely might also get to pitch in off the bench for the Hornets. Ely played in 52 games (1 start) last season for the Hornets and he averaged 3.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. Center Hilton Armstrong won’t likely get much playing time in this series. Armstrong played in 65 games (3 starts) this season for the Hornets and he averaged 2.7 points, 2.5 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.

EDGE: EVEN

PREDICTION: THE HORNETS IN SIX GAMES.

For only the 3rd time in 23 years since the NBA went to a 16-team format in the playoffs did a #8 seed knock out a #1 seed! Dirk Nowitzki disappeared when his team really needed him as Don Nelson devised a plan to stop him on the court. It was amazing to see the Mavericks show no pride tonight and take the beating that the Golden State Warriors gave them! It was amazing to see owner Mark Cuban answering questions after the game with tears in his eyes as he probably came to realize that the coach he treated so badly was much better than the one he replaced him with.

The Warriors ambushed the Mavericks tonight and ended their season with a beatdown at the Oracle Arena! The Mavericks only shot 37.6% from the floor and they were outrebounded 53-38 by the Warriors and those were two of the biggest reasons for the loss. Another huge reason was the third quarter in which the Warriors outscored the Mavericks 36-15! It looks as if Don Nelson badly outcoached Avery Johnson with his halftime adjustments! Josh Howard led the way for the Mavericks with 20 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists. Jerry Stackhouse did a good job off of the bench with 20 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Jason Terry (13 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists) and Devin Harris (13 points, 2 rebounds and 9 assists) both got abused on defense by the Warriors. Rookie Maurice Ager played the whole 4th quarter and he played well as he scored 10 points. Dirk Nowitzki totally disappeared tonight when his team really needed him…..not exactly an MVP performance! He only shot 2 for 13 from the floor and wound up with 8 points, 10 rebounds and 2 assists. The Warriors won this series 4-2!

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=270503009