NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Chris Paul played for the first time in 25 games, and Marcus Thornton scored 28 points to help the Hornets to a 115-99 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night.Returning from a left knee injury, Paul started but was limited to 21 minutes and had 11 points. He helped New Orleans pull away in the fourth quarter, but rookie Darren Collison ran the floor when the Hornets had a remarkable run of 23 straight points from late in the second quarter until early in the third to take a lead they would not relinquish.David West had 25 points and 10 assists, Morris Peterson had a season-high 20 points and Collison scored 16 for the Hornets.Jason Terry scored 24 for Dallas, which squandered a 16-point first-quarter lead.After shooting only 32 percent in the first quarter (7 of 22), the Hornets went 38 of 61 (62 percent) from the field during the rest of the game.The Hornets led 60-45 after their 23-0 run. The closest Dallas got after that was when Jason Terry hit a 3 to make it 73-66 with 3:06 to go in the third period.Peterson responded with a 3, and soon after, West hit a couple of jumpers and had a steal to set up Collison’s fast-break dunk to put the Hornets up 82-70 heading into the fourth quarter.Darius Songaila opened the fourth quarter with a jumper from the top of the key and Paul scored his first points on a baseline fade with 11:05 remaining in the game. Paul later added three 3-pointers as the Hornets built a lead as large as 21.Dallas still finished shooting 52 percent (42 of 81), but was hurt by porous defense and 20 turnovers, which the Hornets converted into 35 points. Dirk Nowitzki scored 16 points for the Mavericks, while Shawn Marion added 14 and Caron Butler 12.—–Contact The Daily Reveille’s sports staff at [email protected]