Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki celebrates at the buzzer. Dallas won, 97-87, Friday in Dallas.

Dallas ? Chris Paul raced down the court, beating most of the Dallas Mavericks. He put on the brakes with a jump stop in the lane and floated up a jumper that was supposed to get the New Orleans Hornets within a few baskets of the lead.

The ball went in all right. And then it came out.

Things sure were different now that he and the Hornets were on the road – and the Mavs were at home.

Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks finally made the Hornets look like playoff novices, pestering Paul and David West to go a combined 6-for-30 well into the fourth quarter on the way to a 97-87 victory in Game 3 that puts Dallas right back into this series.

“I think we got a lot of shots we wanted,” Paul said. “We just missed them.”

Nowitzki had 32 points, 19 rebounds and six assists to pull the Mavericks within a game.