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Hornets-Mavericks Preview

Feb 27, 2010 - 5:48 PM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

New Orleans (31-28) at Dallas (38-21), 9:30 p.m. EDT

The Dallas Mavericks clearly have a strong roster with All-Star Dirk Nowitzki, top reserve Jason Terry and three players acquired over the All-Star break that have all started games in Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson.

Jason Kidd, though, is making sure his importance isn't forgotten.

Kidd will try to follow one of the best games of his career and lead the Mavericks to a seventh straight win Sunday night at home against the New Orleans Hornets.

Dallas (38-21) is seeking its first seven-game win streak since Dec. 29, 2007-Jan. 12, 2008, and has clearly been bolstered by adding Haywood, Butler and Stevenson from the trade with Washington. Nowitzki is averaging 27.7 points in seven games since the deal.

Kidd is also playing well in that span with averages of 14.9 points, 10.1 assists and 7.7 boards while shooting 44.0 percent on 3-pointers.

"The big thing is we're not worried about competing for a championship," Kidd said. "We're going to take it one game at a time ... the (playoff) seeding will take care of itself."

The 36-year-old point guard was magnificent in Friday's 111-103 overtime victory at Atlanta. Kidd had 19 points, 17 assists and 16 rebounds for his first triple-double this season and 104th of his career.

"This one, I will treasure as much as the first one I had," Kidd said. "At 36, I feel great. A triple-double at 36 is special."

Kidd inspired a comeback from a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter, making a heady play down the stretch when he ran into Hawks coach Mike Woodson - who was on the court - for a technical foul that Nowitzki converted. Nowitzki is shooting 96.0 percent (121 of 126) on free throws in the fourth quarter and overtime.

Butler missed his second straight game due to a negative reaction to medication but could return Sunday. Stevenson made his second straight start and Haywood turned in another strong game.

Filling in for an injured Erick Dampier, Haywood recorded his third double-double in four games with 11 points and 11 boards. He's got 11 blocks in his last three games.

"He's had double-doubles since he's been on the team," Kidd said. "He understands how to play and I think it's worked out for us."

Dallas and New Orleans (31-28) have split two games this season, and the Mavericks have won 15 of the last 16 regular-season home matchups. Hornets forward David West is averaging 13.3 points on 38.9 percent shooting in seven career starts at Dallas.

West, however, enters off a dominant performance Friday with 40 points and 10 boards in a 100-93 home win over Orlando. He had gone 12 straight games without a double-double.

"I wanted to come out aggressive," West said. "We've got a tough stretch of games coming up. We felt like coming off the road trip where we dropped two, we just wanted to come in here and put together a solid game win or lose."

Rookie point guard Darren Collison, starting for an injured Chris Paul, is averaging 22.7 points and 8.7 assists in his last nine games.