Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks drives against David West of the New Orleans Hornets in Game 3 on Friday. (Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)

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 visiting New Orleans Hornets within a few baskets of the lead.

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

Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavericks 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 on homecourt Friday night that puts Dallas right back into this Western Conference first-round 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 2-1. Game 4 is Sunday night in Dallas, where the Hornets haven't won since January 1998.

"We wanted to make sure we made it a series and win this first one," Nowitzki said. "They're going to keep coming. It's going to take the same effort, the same intensity."

Paul was supposed to change that, the way he's changed everything else this series, becoming the first player ever to have at least 30 points and 10 assists in his first two playoff games.

But he never came close to making it three straight, finishing with 16 points on 4-of-18 shooting. He still had 10 assists.

West, a fellow all-star, was 3-of-16 through three quarters. He wound up 6-of-20, scoring 14 points. His late surge helped New Orleans cut a 17-point deficit to 90-83 with two minutes left, but the Hornets couldn't close the gap.

"We can't have the type of stretches I had to start the game off," West said. "That really put us in a hole."

With files from the Associated Press