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NEW ORLEANS – No one stops Chris Paul. He's too good.

But the Mavericks have zero chance to win this first-round playoff series against New Orleans if they don't figure out a way to contain Paul before Game 2 on Tuesday.

If Paul hits his average of 21 points and 11 assists, that's fine. After all, he is the league's best point guard and worthy of beating out Kobe Bryant for the MVP.

The Mavs just can't have him scoring 35 points along with 10 assists, which is what he did Saturday. And in the second half, he was unstoppable, scoring 24 points on an assortment of jumpers, floaters and drives.

The result: Dallas wasted a huge opportunity to steal Game 1 and place doubt into this young team's mind.

New Orleans 104, Dallas 92.

The Mavs did a nice job on the Hornets' pick-and-roll in the first half, when Jason Kidd fought through screens, and good team defense kept Paul out of the lane as the Mavs built a 12-point halftime lead.

All of that changed in the second half as coach Byron Scott implored his star point guard to be more aggressive. Paul started looking to score and never stopped.

Paul scored 15 points in the third quarter, assisted on five other baskets and made 7-of-11 field goals as New Orleans zoomed past the Mavs and took a four-point lead into the fourth quarter.

Kidd played the entire third quarter, when he managed two assists and no points.

That's unacceptable.

The Mavs have no chance to win if Kidd doesn't force Paul to expend some energy on defense.

It's that simple.

Kidd finished with 11 points, but he only took five shots.

More important, when Kidd doesn't look for his shot, the offense stagnates because the defense sags, clogging the passing lanes. Or the Hornets will double-team Dirk Nowitzki even more.

We all know Kidd isn't going to score 27 points on a regular basis like he did Wednesday, when the Mavs beat New Orleans in the final regular-season game, but he can't pass up wide-open shots like he did several times Saturday.

"I have to be more aggressive," Kidd said. "Make them or miss them, I have to take them."

Avery has lectured him on this topic numerous times in the two months since Kidd arrived in a trade with New Jersey. Clearly, Avery needs to keep hammering the point.

"We have to make [Paul] play more defense than we did tonight," he said.

The Mavs must also figure out how to keep the ball out of Paul's hands. No one said it would be easy.

Paul has seen just about every type of defense and trap imaginable this season, but Avery is supposed to be a defensive guru. There's no better time to prove it than in this series.

The Mavs didn't appear to trap Paul for the first time until there was 1:18 left in the third quarter. Avery, however, said the Mavs attempted to trap him several times but were foiled by Paul's quickness, athleticism and craftiness.

All that means is they must be more aggressive, so Paul can't split it as easily. Kidd wasn't sure what else the Mavs can do.

"Hope he misses," Kidd said. "Just make it as tough as possible. He's been doing it all season."

That's true, but anytime Paul has a similar performance during this series, the Mavs will lose.

In two regular-season wins against the Mavs, Paul averaged 32 points and 11.5 assists. In two losses, he averaged 21 points and 6.5 assists.

Notice a trend?

The quickest way for the Mavs to lose in the first round for the second straight year is to let Paul do whatever he wants.

He proved that in Game 1.