The closing seconds were not kind to Erick Dampier and may have an impact on the Mavericks.

Dampier gave Chris Paul a hard shove as he was heading to the basket. Dampier clearly was not going for the ball, but he also hit Paul only in the midsection. He did not appear to go for the head or neck of the point guard.

Dampier was assessed a flagrant foul. All flagrant fouls are reviewed by the NBA office and could bring a fine or a suspension, if the league determines a play was made with intent to harm.

After the play, Dampier and Tyson Chandler received technical fouls for facing off against each other.

Eddie Sefko

Before Friday, journeyman guard Jannero Pargo had a career playoff high of 18 points. It took him less than three quarters to surpass that in Game 3 as he peppered the Mavericks with an assortment of jumpers and drives to the basket.

When he was done, Pargo had 30 points. But the Mavericks had the victory, which meant their defensive strategy to lag off of Pargo on switches worked.

Eddie Sefko

Jason Kidd took a nasty knock on his right forehead early in the fourth quarter and retired to the bench to have ice applied to the quickly swelling injury. After the game, Kidd had a quarter-sized welt above his right eye. No foul was called.

Eddie Sefko

There was a moment of silence for former NBA official Darell Garretson before Friday night's game.

Garretson died Monday at the age of 76. He spent 31 years in the league supervising, evaluating and training officials before his retirement in 1998.

The show of respect was particularly meaningful to one person in the arena. Ron Garretson, Darell's son, was one of the three officials for the game.

David Moore

Jerry Stackhouse didn't start for the first time in the series and played only seven minutes. He missed his only two shots from the floor and is 6 of 21 for the series.

Stackhouse, who missed nine games with a strained groin before playing in the regular-season finale, acknowledged that he hasn't regained his explosiveness. However, he was surprised not to get back into the game after the second quarter.

"No worse than it was when I came back the last game of the season," Stackhouse said of his groin. "I don't know how much better it is, but it's no worse. I don't think that had anything to do with it."

Tim MacMahon

Devin Harris and DeSagana Diop, the key players sent to New Jersey in the Jason Kidd trade, returned to American Airlines Center for Game 3.

Harris, who had a front-row baseline seat, said he didn't have mixed feelings watching the Mavericks play in the playoffs without him. He said he enjoyed the game and wanted to support close friend Josh Howard.

Harris gave a politically correct answer when asked if he thought he could have made a difference defending Chris Paul.

"They've done a better job tonight," Harris said before the fourth quarter started. "Obviously, they made the right adjustments."

Tim MacMahon

Hornets coach Byron Scott didn't seem concerned that point guard Chris Paul and forward David West were a combined 10 of 38 from the field.

Paul scored 16 points and was held under 30 for the first time in the series. West scored 14 and was held under 20 for the first time.

"I would love for those two guys to get 38 shots Sunday," Scott said.

Keith Whitmire