New Orleans Hornets Team Report - March 21

(Basketball News) - The New Orleans Hornets face the Dallas Mavericks on Monday at American Airlines Center. It is the fourth and final meeting of the season between the clubs. Dallas won the three previous contests, winning twice at New Orleans Arena and on February 28th in front of its home crowd.

The Mavericks have dominated this series, as they have won 12 straight contests. The last time the Hornets defeated the Mavericks was on November 17, 1999.

The Hornets have lost six straight and seven of their last eight at Dallas.

New Orleans plays the first of a brief two-game road trip. The Hornets are scheduled to visit the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday.

On Saturday, Ricky Davis scored 27 points and Paul Pierce netted 23 as the Boston Celtics rolled to a 113-100 win over the Hornets at New Orleans Arena. Rookie J.R. Smith paced New Orleans with 21 points in the loss to the Celtics.

Bostjan Nachbar scored 19 points of the bench for the Hornets against Boston, while Dan Dickau and Lee Nailon each netted 13 for the Hornets, who have dropped five of their last seven overall.

The Hornets, who are 2-7 in Monday games this season, are 1-22 in games decided by 10 points or more. New Orleans, which has scored over 100 points only five times in the 2004-05 campaign, is a dismal 4-28 as the visitor.

New Orleans is scheduled to host the Houston Rockets on Friday and will then visit the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday. The Hornets are 0-2 against the Rockets and 0-3 versus Memphis this season.

Smith has scored in double-digits in 14 of his last 18 games. He is averaging 13.2 points and 2.3 assists in his last 10 contests.