The New Orleans Hornets are off to a fantastic start in their NBA Playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks and point guard Chris Paul is showing the world why he's MVP candidate this season.

The Hornets spanked the Mavericks 127-103 taking a two games to none lead in the best of seven series Tuesday in spectacular fashion. "We've just held serve. We've done what we were supposed to do as far as trying to keep home court advantage that's all we've done that's the only thing we've accomplished so far in this series," said head coach Byron Scott.

The series is indeed not over but it's hard to overlook what's been accomplished so far by Byron Scott's team. In the game 2 win alone, the Hornets set team playoff marks for team points (127), 3-pointers made (18), first quarter points (39), and first half points (67).

"You have to pick your poison," said Hornets point guard Chris Paul whose 17 assists set a team playoff record. "I'm coming off aggressive, D-West is spotting up, Peja, Mo, Tyson at the rim so when we're clicking on all cylinders it's tough to defend us."

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Paul in two games has scored 66 points to go along with 31 assists, and CP3 is giving Mavericks head coach Avery Johnson a headache, "He's a very strong minded and tough player," says the St. Aug alum. "I just think we got to really do a better job of being much more physical with him on our traps. Physical with him on his drives. We got to do a better job of screening him when he's on defense. You know he just roams around on defense and disrupts our offense."

Dallas for two days talked about how things were going to be different from game one in which Paul had 14 assists. The Mavs pledged to trap more and force the ball out of the point guard's hands and force other Hornets to make plays.

Well unfortunately for Dallas they didn't stop Paul and his teammates were knocking down shots. "Our coaches did an outstanding job of preparing us and D-West kept telling me leading up to this game, CP if they try to trap you we're going to make plays, we're going to make plays," said Paul. All five starters for the Hornets finished the game in double figures led by Paul's 32 points.

The Hornets as a team shot 70-percent from the floor in the first quarter and finished the game shooting 60-percent.

"I think the guys came in and had the right mindset in terms of just wanting to approach the game the right way," said forward David West who finished with 27 points. "It was key that we had the confidence for us to make plays. Peja hit some shots, Mo was able to hit some shots and it really disrupted what they were trying to do."

As for Dallas, "We got to have a better effort than what we had tonight," said a frustrated Johnson who couldn't wait to leave the Hive. "Where do we go from here? We're going home. Home has been good for us. We got to go home and get some home cooking, that's what we need right now."

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So now the series moves to Dallas for games three and four and it's a place where the Hornets have failed to pick up a single victory since 1998.

"They protected their home court. We have a chance to go home and do the same thing," says Johnson. "I've been saying all along they are a number two seed that deserves to be number two and we've got to play much better than what we've played these first two games."