Dallas head coach Rick Carlisle's wish for a strong defensive effort from his team didn't come true on his 50th birthday Tuesday night.

In a season-opening contest filled with new faces in new places, a superstar returning from injury and All-Stars missing from both lineups, Washington piled up 35 points during a pivotal second quarter and held on for a 102-91 victory in a nice debut for coach Flip Saunders.

Washington, whose 6-35 road record last season was tied for worst in the league, shot 46.4 percent, turned the ball over just nine times and out-rebounded the Mavericks by a 46-42 margin. Dallas shot 39.5 percent, including 22.2 percent (4-for-18) from 3-point distance.

"Missed threes weren't the problem," Carlisle said. "The problem, I felt, was our second-quarter defense. When they got 35 points in that quarter and we had probably five or six situations when we gambled for steals and missed and gave them either easy buckets or and-ones, that gives a team a lot of confidence and it deflated us to a certain degree."

Carlisle refused to blame the shaky defense on unfamiliarity or a lack of chemistry from having four newcomers in the rotation in Shawn Marion, Drew Gooden, Quinton Ross and Kris Humphries.

"I'm not going to make that excuse," he said. "Defense is effort. It's the knowledge of the system and this is not a complex system. I never use that as an excuse."

The Mavericks didn't have enough offensive firepower to overcome the defensive lapses. Dirk Nowitzki had a game-high 34 points for his 26th consecutive regular-season game with 20-plus (the longest active streak in the NBA). Marion added 16 points, with most coming either very early or too late. J.J. Barea scored 11 of his 13 points in the second quarter.

"We're a team that scores," Carlisle said. "When we score and we shoot well, everything else falls into place. The real challenge for us is to become a team that can be persistent enough on defense and hold ourselves in games when we're not shooting great."

Gilbert Arenas, limited to 15 games in the past two seasons with a left knee injury, shook off the rust with 29 points on 10-for-21 shooting and nine assists. Newcomer Randy Foye added 19 points off the bench and Caron Butler added 16 points and eight boards.

"No one cared who got the credit," said Washington center Brendan Haywood. "We played the right way. We swung the ball, and when you don't play selfishly, good things are going to happen."

Jason Terry, the Mavericks' reigning NBA Sixth Man Award winner, has some early competition for the 2009-10 trophy from the Wizards' Andray Blatche. Blatche scored 10 of his 20 in that pivotal second quarter and added seven rebounds and two blocks off the bench. Terry was just 4 of 15, including 1 of 6 beyond the arc.

"Blatche was as good as he could be," said Saunders, who improved to 11-2 in his career in season openers. Only San Antonio's Gregg Popovich (11-1) can top that.

"Blatche is a talented guy," Carlisle said. "He can make shots. In talking about their team, we didn't want to let him get going. When he hits his first shot he's always tough."

It was an off night for one of the newest Mavericks, and also the oldest. Gooden had two points and two turnovers and made 1 of 6 shots in his Dallas debut. Veteran point guard Jason Kidd, 36, missed all three 3-point attempts and finished with four points, six assists and six rebounds.

Dallas was without former All-Star Josh Howard, who is recovering from left ankle surgery. Washington had a sidelined All-Star, too, in former Maverick Antawn Jamison (right shoulder).

The Mavericks, who stumbled to a 2-7 start last season, are in danger of starting their 30th anniversary season in similarly sluggish fashion with road games this weekend against the defending champion Lakers and the Clippers. Losing by double-digits to a Washington team that went 19-63 last season wasn't the start, or the birthday present, Carlisle wanted.

"It's just disappointing," he said. "This is one of those nights where we're not shooting it well and you've got to hang in the game with your defense and we just weren't able to do it."