Phenomenal guard Chris Paul will soak up so much attention in the coming days, you may wonder if New Orleans has anyone else on the roster.

The Mavericks' regular-season finale gave Paul a chance to possibly peek into his future.

Mavericks guard Jason Kidd, a 13-year veteran, notched his 100th career triple-double by racking up 27 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists Wednesday.

Kidd joins Oscar Robertson (181) and Magic Johnson (138) as the only players in NBA history to record at least 100 triple-doubles.

"The good thing is that Dirk [Nowitzki] is at one, so I'm ahead of him," Kidd said. "But he told me he's on his way. But that's great company when you talk about Oscar and Magic. They changed the game. I'm happy to be in that company."

Kidd played a pivotal role in the second half when the Mavericks went on a 22-8 run to close out the third quarter. Kidd finished the game 9-of-14 shooting from the floor and 5-for-8 from 3-point range.

Paul finished with 20 points and 10 assists, showing why he's an MVP candidate.

"Oh, yeah. He is the better player," Kidd said. "He's played at a high level for 82 games. He's in the running for that big award, the MVP."

Stackhouse in lineup: The Mavericks wanted to get Jerry Stackhouse some limited playing time to test his right groin. By all indications, things couldn't have gone better. He was in the starting lineup and played 16 minutes, getting four points and three rebounds.

"I got a little tired there at the start of the game," said Stackhouse, who missed nine games. "But I came out of it pretty good."

Rotation question: Mavericks coach Avery Johnson indicated he still has some questions about the Mavericks' playoff rotation against the Hornets. He could be deciding on which player would make a better swingman behind Stackhouse – Devean George or Eddie Jones?

Neither player made a huge impact Wednesday. Jones had one point in almost 16 minutes, and George went scoreless in five minutes.

The reserve who continues to make strides is Brandon Bass. He had three vicious two-handed dunks en route to 13 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks for the third double-double of his career.

Dirk still hobbled: Nowitzki's tender left ankle continues to be problematic. The 7-footer was only 4-for-16 shooting and had five rebounds in 39 minutes Wednesday.

Nowitzki said he didn't have a lot of lift, especially when it came to rebounding. "But hey, it's the playoff time now," he said. "All of that doesn't matter."