Dallas went on an 8-0 run and led 22-16 after Brandon Bass' fadeaway jumper with 3:18 in the quarter. Jason Terry hit back-to-back 3-pointers, and Bass added another field goal to give the Mavericks a 30-21 advantage. New Orleans' Tyson Chandler picked up his second foul at the 8:35 mark. David West was hit with a technical foul seven seconds later.

Top scorers

Mavs: Terry 12

Hornets: West, Peterson 8

Julian Wright's layup erased the Mavericks' seven-point lead early, tying the score at 32 with nine minutes remaining. Jannero Pargo aided in a 9-2 run by scoring five points in the first 2 ½ minutes of the quarter. Peja Stojakovic hit a 19-footer with 2:39 until halftime to give the Hornets a 46-40 advantage. The Hornets outscored Dallas, 25-14, in the quarter.

Top scorers

Mavs: Bass 6

Hornets: Pargo 7

David West scored 10 of New Orleans' first 13 points and paced the Hornets to a 61-51 lead with 8:44 remaining in the quarter. The Hornets led by as many as 13, but the Mavericks trimmed the lead to five on a Dirk Nowitzki 3-pointer with 2:21 remaining. New Orleans, however, extended its lead to double digits with free throws from Chris Paul, Morris Peterson and Peja Stojakovic.

Top scorers

Mavs: Nowitzki 9

Hornets: West 10

New Orleans opened the quarter with a 7-2 run and cruised to a big victory. Jason Kidd was ejected with 7:16 remaining in the quarter after being called for a flagrant foul on Jannero Pargo. The Hornets outscored the Mavericks, 13-4, in the first seven minutes. New Orleans continued its fourth-quarter dominance with the help of Chris Paul and Julian Wright.

Top scorers

Mavs: Barea 8

Hornets: Wright 7

What happened: Paul waited for the right opportuni- ties, then methodically made Dallas pay. The proof that the Mavericks were in trouble was when Paul had just four points during the third quarter, yet the Hornets were up 13. When he finally scored 12 points late in the third and in the fourth, it wiped out any chance for the Mavs.

The edge: Paul won and probably will win Game 5 by default. Kidd could face a suspension for his takedown of Jannero Pargo on a fast break. At the very least, this is a fight that should be stopped by the refs.

Eddie Sefko

Some eye-catching plays on Sunday. If you didn't catch them, here's what you missed:

Three feat: Jason Terry rocked the Hornets late in the first quarter. He buried two 3-pointers in a span of 28 seconds to give the Mavericks a 28-19 lead with 2:11 left in the period.

The Wright stuff: New Orleans rookie Julian Wright didn't score a lot of points. But his soaring, one-handed nuclear slam after a steal in the first four minutes highlighted a second quarter that saw the Hornets outscore the Mavericks, 25-14.

Takedown: Jason Kidd was ejected when he wrapped his arm around the back of Jannero Pargo's neck and threw him to the floor on a fast break with 7:16 remaining. The hard foul came with the Mavericks trailing by 16 points.

David Moore

54: Mavericks' point total in the last three quarters

36: Mavericks' shooting percentage from the field (32-of-89)

4: Points scored by Erick Dampier, all in the first two minutes