NEW ORLEANS — The best point guard on the court, the one who dominated every facet of the game, wore a New Orleans jersey.

You know, somewhere, Devin Harris was chuckling.

Welcome to the Western Conference, Jason Kidd, the land of terrific point guards.

Chris Paul scored 31 points to go with 11 assists and nine steals to ruin Kidd's debut with the Mavericks as New Orleans showed why it's the conference's best team with a 104-93 win.

Oh yeah, and Paul scored 19 points in the third quarter, when the Hornets turned the game into a blowout. And he had only one turnover.

It'll get better for Kidd — just a little, though — because he won't have to face Paul again until April 16. Right now, Paul is the game's best point guard.

That's right, the best.

Better than Kidd, Steve Nash, Tony Parker and anyone else you want to throw in the conversation, like Deron Williams, Allen Iverson, Chauncey Billups or Baron Davis.

Paul can score. He can distribute. He can defend. He can dominate.

"Chris is a great player, and he's at the top of his game right now," coach Avery Johnson said. "We went under the pick-and-roll, over the pick-and-roll, and he beat the trap when we tried that and made the right pass. He was outstanding tonight."

This, however, is what it's going to be like almost every night in Kidd's new conference.

There's plenty of conversation — as there should be — about Shaquille O'Neal in Phoenix, Tim Duncan in San Antonio and Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum in Los Angeles. But the point guards dominate the conference.

Except for Los Angeles, where Kobe is king, the team whose point guard plays the best will emerge from the NBA's best conference. That's the key reason the Mavs felt compelled to acquire Kidd.

They knew Harris couldn't take them to the championship. They're hoping Kidd, who turns 35 next month, still has enough juice left to get it done.

We all know Kidd will have better games than he did against New Orleans. He had eight points, six rebounds and five assists in nearly 37 minutes. Though he wasn't pleased with his performance, he also understands he's had exactly one practice with his new teammates.

That's not nearly enough time to learn the Mavs' offensive and defensive principles, let alone execute them flawlessly against New Orleans. Dallas needs as much practice as it can get in the next couple of weeks so it can find a rhythm.

The problem, of course, is there are so many good teams in the Western Conference that Dallas simply can't afford to lose many games while Kidd and his new teammates learn to play together.

Dallas is only two games ahead of Golden State in the loss column. If the playoffs started today, the Warriors would not make the playoffs. Now do you understand the urgency?

No one is saying the Mavs aren't going to make the playoffs. They will. But the trade for Kidd and the mortgaging of the future is about winning a championship.

Let me say without equivocation, that won't happen if the Mavs don't finish among the conference's top four teams. They need home-court advantage in at least one series to make a deep playoff run, especially as bad as they've played on the road this season.

It's not that Kidd played poorly against New Orleans, but he was tentative. He took only six shots, in part, because he was so concerned with making sure everyone else touched the ball that he ignored his own offense. He won't do that as he gets more comfortable.

There were also the usual miscues you associate with having a teammate for the first time — like Josh Howard tossing a pass to Kidd, who wasn't looking for it as he moved to another spot on the floor, leading to a turnover.

Or Kidd and Devean George chasing the same cutter, while Paul stood alone at the top of the circle with the ball.

"I have some bad habits," Kidd said, "that I need to correct."

Still, there were a few good moments, like connecting with Howard on an alley-oop layup 12 seconds into the game or finding Dirk Nowitzki running the lane for a dunk in the second quarter when the Mavs still had a chance to win the game.

Kidd also showed an ability to finish more than once on the break.

"We need to work on our mistakes, and it starts with me taking care of the basketball and being more aggressive," Kidd said. "This is one game. This is something we can build on."

He's right, but it needs to happen quickly.