The AP reports: Chris Paul narrowly missed his seventh triple-double this season with 31 points, 17 assists and nine rebounds, and the New Orleans Hornets defeated the Dallas Mavericks 102-92 on Sunday to earn a split in a key late-season home-and-home series… “Paul was setting everybody up and he was scoring, so that’s why he’s one of the best point guards in the league,” said Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki, who had 29 points and 14 rebounds. David West scored 31 points to help New Orleans (49-31) move a game ahead of Dallas for the sixth playoff seed in the Western Conference. Each team has two games left in the regular season… Josh Howard added 15 points for the Mavericks, who had pulled even in the standings with New Orleans on Friday by beating the Hornets in Dallas.
