NEW ORLEANS — Flashing back to early summer, 2006, every Mavericks playoff road contest — as of Tuesday night, it's eight games and counting — could properly be described with one word:

Gutless.

OK, make it two words:

Gutless losers.

But this time it was different. This time — Game 2 of a series that may not see a fifth, unless it's a North Texas fandom in need of 100-proof reality — the Mavs don't deserve harsh name-calling or questions of manhood. That would be cruel and unnecessary ridicule.

Why pick on the incompetent and the over-matched?

Chris Paul — all 5-foot-11 of him — should be ashamed for this mean bully act. C'mon, man. Quit picking on people twice your size.

But seriously and sadly:

Paul and the Hornets by 127-103 was much more than a Mavs' exercise in 48 minutes of futility. This game seemed to signal the end of a long and mostly successful era for a franchise that since the turn of the century has been on the verge of something very big.

By Ground Hog Day of this year, however, it was obvious the Mavs no longer cast that same shadow on an NBA Western Conference that suddenly roared right past them. The carry-over from early February is now even more dramatic after what was witnessed here in two playoff contests

What's scary is the Hornets are the least seasoned of this West playoff pack. What's obvious, particularly last night, is it doesn't matter.

Losing for the eighth consecutive time on the playoff road — three at Miami two years ago, three at Golden State last spring, and now two here — the Mavs for the most part were at least competitive in the other seven, although also gutless for losing as big-time favorites over the Heat and Warriors.

But then there was this game last night:

Real quick, the Hornets simply had energy, motivation, and to borrow a hockey term (now that the Stars have actually won a playoff series) "jump." They jumped Mav butts from the git-go. New Orleans roared out with 39 points in the first quarter, meaning a 10-point lead after one.

When a team shoots 71 percent in an opening quarter, the law of shooting percentages says that will fall. Not really, however. The Hornets shot 61 percent for the night. Bad defense? Well, yes. Just call it bad, period.

It's an indictment of everyone, starting with Avery Johnson, when the opposition dominates all those departments — energy, motivation, toughness, jump, whatever. That indictment becomes a felony when it happens right from minute one and never changes.

Avery, of course, has been at the helm of some historic playoff disasters during his tenure, but this series has started off at the lowest possible level for any coach.

Avery has no starting-five matchup advantage thus far. He's losing at every position on the floor. The only one even remotely close is Dirk Nowitzki vs. David West (both had 27 points in Game 2).

But when West is hanging with Dirk, of course, chalk up another loser.

Avery says, because it's the wise thing to say, he's attempting to slow Paul with various defensive schemes. Avery also admits the obvious. His plans are being shredded by the little fellow. Actually, Paul's 32 in this Game 2 were mostly pile-on fourth quarter points.

But when Paul is not scoring, he makes sure everyone else gets the ball in a position to do so. In the first-quarter blastoff, Paul had eight assists. He ended with 17.

Go back to Game 1 on Saturday night. The Mavs held a 52-40 lead at halftime.

In the six quarters since then, New Orleans' scoring advantage is 191-143. I asked the guy next to me on press row to do the math. His calculations had the Mavs losing each of those quarters by eight points.

For a full game, the Mavs lose by 32 points to these people. (Is everybody still with me here?) So, the way I've got the numbers figured, it was even worse than it looked last night. Is that possible? Never doubt the numbers, but your eyes didn't lie.

Now, about Game 3 on Friday night in downtown Dallas.

"We need some home cooking," Avery said after last night's starvation.

Certainly, the Mavericks are a different team at home, a team that seems to thrive on an up-tempo beat that always fails to materialize on the road.

Avery's postgame promise was "you will see a different team in Game 3."

Promises, promises. If the coach really means it, then do something really different. Get young Brandon Bass in the starting lineup and give Josh Howard bench minutes.

At least Brandon was playing last night as if he was actually hissed off at the embarrassment and humiliation.

Bass is always full of spunk, with the muscle to back up the spunk.

Do it, Avery. And if not, why the heck not?

Based on last night, it's no longer fun anymore for the rest of us to trash the Mavs The team formerly known as gutless losers is being reduced to simply incompetent and over-matched.

Personally, I'm even starting to feel sympathy, which is never good.