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Mavericks host Hornets in season finale

Apr 16, 2008 - 1:41 PM New Orleans (56-25) at Dallas (50-31) 7:00 pm EDT

DALLAS (Ticker) - The Dallas Mavericks have some interesting decisions to make in Wednesday's season finale against the New Orleans Hornets.

With a win, Dallas would secure the seventh spot in the Western Conference and would face New Orleans in the first round while avoiding the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers.

The Mavericks enter with a one-game ahead of the Denver Nuggets (49-32) in the conference standings. If Dallas loses this contest and Denver beats Memphis, the Mavs would fall to eighth in the standings.

Despite getting 32 points from reigning MVP Dirk Nowitzki, the Mavericks dropped a 99-95 decision to the lowly Seattle SuperSonics on the road Sunday.

David West scored 32 points and Chris Paul added 22 and 12 assists to power the Hornets to a 114-92 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday.

But by virtue of the Los Angeles Lakers' win over Sacramento, New Orleans can finish no better than the second seed in the West standings.

New Orleans has captured two of three meetings over Dallas this season and is looking to win the season series for the first time since 1997-98 when the franchise was located in Charlotte.