NEW ORLEANS – First the brilliant playoff debut, then the encore.

Chris Paul had 32 points and a franchise playoff-record 17 assists, leading New Orleans to a 127-103 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night that gave the Hornets a 2-0 lead in their first-round series.

The old record was 15 assists, set by Muggsy Bogues in 1993.

David West scored 27 points and Peja Stojakovic 22 for New Orleans, which took a double-digit lead in the second quarter, led by as much as 25 in the third and never looked back.

Tyson Chandler had his second double-double of the series with 10 points and 11 rebounds, despite playing with foul trouble. Morris Peterson added 12 points and reserve guard Jannero Pargo had 10 for New Orleans, which was 10-of-18 on 3-pointers, with Stojakovic hitting 5-of-7.

The series now moves to Dallas, where the Hornets have not won since January 1998. But that streak will end if the Mavericks don’t figure out how to slow down Paul and a supporting cast that has been playing with enormous confidence since the Hornets stormed back from a 12-point hole to win the series opener.

Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas with 27 points, but spent most of the night looking frustrated, yelling at no one in particular after he threw one pass out of bounds. Brandon Bass was another bright spot for Dallas, muscling inside for 19 points. Reserve Jason Terry added 16 points and Josh Howard scored 10.

The Mavs hoped Jason Kidd would be a bigger factor in this game, but he finished with only seven points and eight assists.

After Paul’s dazzling 35-point, 10-assist performance in Game 1, Dallas coach Avery Johnson said the Mavs would throw more double-teams at Paul, hoping to get the ball out of the star point guard’s hands.

The strategy backfired badly from the start. Paul easily split or dribbled around double-teams, scoring six points and assisting on eight baskets in the first quarter. Once he knifed through a Nowitzki-Kidd trap on the dribble and dropped in a floater from the lane. He twice found Chandler for alley-oop dunks. The Hornets shot a whopping 71 percent and set a franchise playoff record with 39 first-quarter points. Dallas got its deficit briefly back to single digits behind 16 first-half points from Nowitzki and 10 from Howard.

Dallas was hurt by seven turnovers in the second period, however, which the Hornets converted into 10 points, often in transition, as they began to widen their lead again.

Magic 104, Raptors 103

ORLANDO, Fla. – Dwight Howard had 29 points and 20 rebounds, his second straight 20-20 game, and the Orlando Magic beat the Toronto Raptors 104-103 on Tuesday night for a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.

Chris Bosh had 29 points and 10 rebounds for Toronto, but missed a 19-footer with 1.9 seconds left that could have won the game. Jason Kapono scored 20 points, Jose Calderon had 18 and Carlos Delfino added 16 for the Raptors.

Jameer Nelson and Rashard Lewis each scored 18 for Orlando. Hedo Turkoglu made the go-ahead layup and finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.

Toronto, which trailed most of the game, took a 101-100 lead with 1:04 left on three consecutive 3-pointers, one from Delfino and two by Calderon, plus a free throw by Delfino.

But Turkoglu drove the lane for an acrobatic layup to put Orlando back on top, 102-101, then sank two free throws to push the lead to three points. Delfino made another layup to make it 104-103 with 9.6 seconds left, and the Raptors immediately got the ball back after Orlando’s Keyon Dooling was called for an offensive foul on the inbounds pass.

Toronto isolated Bosh for the last shot, but it was no good.

Howard was the first player in nearly 40 years to record consecutive playoff games with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds. The last was the San Francisco Warriors’ Nate Thurmond in the 1968-69 playoffs.

The game was much more physical than Sunday’s series opener. Turkoglu was called for a flagrant foul in the second quarter defending Bosh. The Raptors star had just stolen a pass and had a clear shot at the basket when Turkoglu caught up with him, pushing Bosh hard to the ground.

Howard picked up a technical in the third quarter jawing with Delfino after the making a layup, plus the foul on the guard in the third quarter.

The Raptors took their first lead of the series in the third quarter, using a 7-0 run to go ahead 64-59. Orlando was 0-for-5 to start the quarter, but regained an 81-71 lead after Nelson’s two 3-pointers and Howard’s bucket that preceded his technical.

For the second straight game, Toronto got buried in a double-digit deficit in the opening minutes.

– this time from inside. Orlando was only 1-of-5 on 3-pointers in the period after a 9-of-11 performance in Game 1, but opened a 26-8 lead on Nelson’s slash to the bucket 8:04 into the game.

The Magic had five dunks in the first six minutes – including three in a row on fast breaks off a steal (two by Turkoglu and one from Lewis).

The Raptors, who tied a franchise playoff low with eight turnovers in Game 1, had that many in the first 13 minutes.

But they closed the gap in the second quarter with a 15-5 run over 3:05. Kapono hit two 3s in the span and scored 13 in the quarter. Bosh, guarded by Magic reserve center Adonal Foyle and Howard instead of Lewis, as in Game 1, also had 13 in the period on 4-of-6 shooting. The Raptors finally tied it at 55 with Calderon’s layup a minute before the half, then trailed 59-57 at halftime.

Notes: Raptors C Rasho Nesterovic, who had 16 points and eight rebounds in Game 1, started but played only five minutes. … Orlando has won five of six series in which it was victorious in Game 1. The lone exception was in 2003 against Detroit. … Bosh missed his first free throw in 40 consecutive attempts this season against the Magic early in the second quarter. He entered the game 38-of-38. … The Raptors are 2-8 all-time on the road in the playoffs. … Two lane violations were called on the same Howard free throw attempt in the second quarter – the first on Kapono, the second on Howard. He missed both tries.

AP-ES-04-22-08 2232EDT