| April 19, 2008 NEW ORLEANS -- The jitters that come with an NBA playoff debut prevented Chris Paul from taking his typical afternoon nap before playing the Dallas Mavericks. Unfortunately for the Mavs, Paul was the same player he's been all season when the Hornets needed him most, and the same "MVP!" chants that rained down from the New Orleans Arena stands during numerous recent triumphs made a thunderous postseason return. Paul had 35 points, 10 assists and four steals in his first playoff game Saturday night, lifting New Orleans to a 104-92 come-from-behind victory over Dallas in Game 1 of their first-round series. "Today, after shootaround, I couldn't go to sleep," Paul said, explaining that he instead tuned in to Game 1 of the Cleveland-Washington series, then some of the San Antonio-Phoenix opener. "I saw the intensity of it ... and I was like, 'Man, this is serious."' Then he went out and performed like a playoff veteran, taking the game over with 15 third-quarter points as the Hornets erased a 12-point halftime lead. "Before we started the second half, I told him ' ... when series like this are up in the air, you've got to go out there and impose your will,"' Hornets coach Byron Scott said. Game 2 is Tuesday night. Advertisement Scott had said leading up to this series that playoff experience was valuable but overrated. What else was he going to say? The Mavericks have been in the playoffs eight years in a row. The Hornets hadn't been to the postseason in four ... |
