After two quarters Saturday, it appeared New Orleans’ postseason inexperience was an actual storyline to its series against Dallas.

The past six quarters of basketball have pretty much put that thought to rest.

After outscoring the Mavericks by 24 points in the second-half of the series opener, the Hornets owned all of Game 2, beating down Dallas 127-103 to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

“You could tell the first game, especially the first half, a young group of guys who haven’t been in this situation before, we had some jitters,” New Orleans head coach Byron Scott said. “We got rid of those at halftime and the guys felt good even though we were down 12. We missed a lot of open shots that we normally make.

“We felt pretty good tonight knowing that, if we got those same shots, we were going to be in great shape. We just wanted to make sure defensively, we kept our intensity.”

Chris Paul, in his first two playoff games of his career, has 67 points and 27 assists, answering any questions anyone might have had about how he would react in the postseason.

Paul has quickly learned what the playoffs are all about.

“This playoff thing is funny,” he said. “It’s like a chess match. The first quarter, you come out and see how they adjust and they see how we adjust and you play from there.”

Going to Big D

It’s a good thing New Orleans owns home-court advantage over Dallas. The Hornets haven’t won in the Big D since the franchise was in Charlotte and David Wesley was running the point.

That last win, to be exact, was a 94-92 win on Jan. 24, 1998. It also was 14 games ago.

“We’re not blind to the fact that, shoot, Muggsy (Bogues) was probably running the point the last time we won in Dallas,” said Chris Paul, whose reference to Bogues was a bit off. “We have a great opportunity to go in there and go up 3-0. We just have to accept the challenge and play the game.”

Scott knows it’s going to be a challenge. The last time the two teams played in American Airlines Center, Dallas overcame a large third quarter deficit and overtook the Hornets, eventually winning 111-98 on April 16.

“They’re pretty good at home,” Scott said. “They’ve been pretty good all season at home. We haven’t won there in awhile. … We’re expecting to go in there and have two very, very difficult games.”

Nothing accomplished yet

Scott isn’t one to mince his words. He’s also one that generally speaks what he’s thinking.

After the Hornets beat Dallas in Game 1, he said the team had not accomplished anything.

So, what about after sending Dallas home with its tail between its legs following a 24-point Hornets win?

“We’ve just held serve,” Scott said. “We’ve done what we were supposed to do as far as keeping home-court advantage. That’s the only thing we’ve accomplished in this series.”

Is New Orleans defendable?

In 26 games this season, New Orleans certainly appeared defendable.

But when New Orleans plays like it did Tuesday night, it’s tough to keep the Hornets down. New Orleans shot 60.8 percent, made 10-of-18 3-pointers and set four franchise marks in offensive categories – 127 team points, 10 made 3-pointers, 39 first-quarter points and 67 first-half points.

So, Coach Scott, how do you defend your team?

“I don’t know,” he said. “You can put an extra defender out there on us, but I don’t know if they’ll allow that.

“Right now, the way we played tonight, the way CP was able to navigate his way through the defense and find open guys, and when Morris (Peterson) and Peja (Stojakovic) and all those guys are making shots, it’s tough.”

Getting in David West’s head

Dallas has gone out of its way to try and get into the head of New Orleans forward David West. It’s not working.

The Mavericks are hammering away at West every chance it gets, but West had 27 points Tuesday night and 23 Saturday.

“It doesn’t really matter either way,” West said. “I’m just going to play. It doesn’t matter what they try to do. Things happen. As long as we continue to come out on top, we’re cool.”