DALLAS, Texas – Tony Parker's stellar effort was in vain Saturday as Dallas defeated San Antonio 99-90 to push the Spurs to the brink of elimination from the National Basketball Association playoffs.

San Antonio's Parker scored 43 points - 31 in the first half alone - but it wasn't enough to stop the Mavericks, who took a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series.

Josh Howard scored 28 points, seven in an early second-half burst that put Dallas ahead for good.

Parker's 31 first-half points equalled George Gervin's franchise playoff record for points in a half.

His inspired performance came after he was held to 12 points in game three, when the Spurs lost 88-67 in their lowest-scoring playoff game ever.

The series shifts to San Antonio on Tuesday, when the Spurs will be fighting to keep their campaign alive.

Later Saturday, the Los Angeles Lakers took a 2-1 series lead against the Jazz into game four at Utah.

Elsewhere in the West, the New Orleans Hornets trimmed their series deficit with a 95-93 victory over Denver.

Chris Paul scored 32 points and passed out 12 assists for New Orleans, who held off a late Denver rally to pull within 2-1 in the series. Game four is in New Orleans on Monday.

"This is the fun part of the playoffs, all the contact, all the flagrant fouls," Paul said of the physical contest. "You never want anyone to get hurt, but after it's all said and done, you smile about it because that's the nature of the sport."

Hard fouls abounded in the game, with each team called for 29 personal fouls. Two players on each team fouled out - David West and Tyson Chandler for New Orleans, and Nene and Kenyon Martin for Denver.

Paul shot 11-of-20 with two 3-pointers and was 8-of-9 from the free throw line. He also helped the Hornets put the brakes on Chanuncey Billups, who had surpassed 30 points in each of the first two games but finished with 16 points in this one.