(Best E Casino) - The New Orleans Hornets kick off a tough three-game road trip on Wednesday hoping to snap a long regular season skid in Dallas when they face the Mavericks at American Airlines Center.

The Hornets have dropped 13 straight regular season games in "Big D," dating back to January 24, 1998. New Orleans, however, managed to upend the Mavs in Dallas back in April during the first round of the playoffs.

Most recently, the Hornets suffered a tough loss in the Big Easy on Monday when New York's David Lee scored 24 points and hauled in nine rebounds to help the Knicks defeat New Orleans, 101-95.

David West tallied 25 points and 14 rebounds for the Hornets, who have alternated wins and losses for the past six games. Chris Paul notched 23 points, seven helpers, five rebounds and a pair of steals in defeat. Rasual Butler ended with 18 points and seven boards.

The Hornets, who are 10-7 on the road this year, will also visit Cleveland and Detroit on their trek.

The Mavs, meanwhile, are coming off a very disappointing 0-3 road trip after dropping the final game of the trek in Denver on Tuesday when Chauncey Billups had 23 points -- including two free throws with 2.2 seconds left -- to lift the Nuggets to a 99-97 victory at the Pepsi Center.

Dirk Nowitzki had game-highs of 44 points and 14 rebounds for the Mavericks, who fell to 10-10 as the visitor on the season.

Jason Terry added 16 points, while Brandon Bass was the only other Dallas player in double-figures with 10.

The Mavericks, who are 12-6 as the host this year, have dominated this series recently, winning 23 of the last 25 contests between the two clubs.