Josh Howard rolled his left ankle in the second half when he landed on Peja Stojakovic's foot. He's also playing with a sore right knee that caused him to miss a game last week. Howard, however, declined to use injuries as an excuse for his poor performance in the second half. Howard scored two of his 17 points in the second half, when he missed all eight of his shots form the floor.

"I'll be all right," Howard said.

Tim MacMahon

The Mavericks came close to setting a couple of dubious franchise playoff records. Their 24 field goals were two more than the franchise low, set against Houston in the 2005 playoffs. They shot 33.3 percent from the field, slightly better than the 31.6 percent they shot against Miami in Game 4 of the 2006 Finals.

Saturday was the fourth time in the Mavericks' last five playoff losses that they shot worse than 40 percent. Jason Kidd, who made three of five shots, was the only Maverick to hit at least half his shots.

Coach Avery Johnson said the Mavericks settled for too many jump shots. Dirk Nowitzki agreed and added the Mavericks weren't able to get in transition because they couldn't stop the Hornets from scoring in the second half.

Tim MacMahon

Dirk Nowitzki and Hornets power forward David 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." Hornets point guard Chris Paul advised reporters to look at West's fat lip if they wanted to figure out the root of the problem between the All-Star forwards.

Tim MacMahon

Jason Kidd finished a rebound and an assist short of his 12th career playoff triple-double. Kidd averaged 14.6 points, 10.9 rebounds and 10.9 assists per game during the playoffs for New Jersey last season. Oscar Robertson is the only other player in NBA history to average a triple-double during a playoff season.

Tim MacMahon

There was nothing free about free throws for New Orleans in the first half. Not only did the Hornets not shoot very many of them, they didn't make many, either.They were 2-of-7 from the line before halftime. That changed drastically in the second half, when the Hornets made 16 of 19 foul shots.

Eddie Sefko

After New Orleans' Mo Peterson hit a jumper with 5:36 left in the third quarter, the clock was stopped. When the Mavericks inbounded and kept possession for 10 to 15 seconds, the clock never started. Dirk Nowitzki was fouled and Tyson Chandler was assessed a technical with 5:36 still left in the third quarter. There were five points scored with no time going off the clock.

Eddie Sefko

Brandon Bass had to procure some 40 tickets for family and friends when the Mavericks made regular-season visits to New Orleans – he was born and raised in the area. But coach Avery Johnson gave the 6-8 forward some words of advice before the first playoff appearance of his career.

"He told me not to worry about tickets or anything else," said Bass, who said he only had to come up with "a few" tickets.

Eddie Sefko

New Orleans sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic battled foul trouble in much of Game 1, but he still was able to throw in four of eight 3-pointers. That extended his streak to 46 consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer.

Eddie Sefko

The Mavericks' edge in playoff experience showed in the first half, when Hornets coach Byron 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 percent and outscoring the Mavericks 64-40.

"We can't worry about how many years guys have been here and all that stuff," Hornets forward David West said. "We've got to get beyond that and play our best between the lines."

The Mavericks starters entered Game 1 with a combined 325 playoff appearances and 255 starts, led by Jason Kidd's 100 games, all starts. The Hornets' starters had 97 playoff games and 56 starts, with Peja Stojakovic accounting for 59 games and 46 starts.

David Moore