By GIL LeBRETON
glebreton@star-telegram.com
DALLAS — Opening night at American Airlines Center.
New super-high-definition video board. New concert-quality sound system.
And eight new Dallas Mavericks.
Clearly, some new things are easier on the eyes and ears than others.
With eight new faces gracing their overall roster, the Mavericks succumbed to old bad habits Tuesday night. Poor shooting and sloppy defense dug the Mavericks into a first-half hole, and the Washington Wizards took it from there, winning the season opener 102-91.
Granted, the Mavericks remain without one of their key pieces. Josh Howard may be three weeks or more away from returning from off-season ankle surgery.
But Howard’s contribution likely wouldn’t have solved Tuesday’s lackluster effort.
"The problem was our second-quarter defense," Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. "There were five or six situations where we gambled for steals and missed, and they were able to get easy baskets. And that deflated us to a certain degree."
The arena was filled to capacity-plus — 19,871, the franchise’s 318th consecutive sellout. But the crowd never could pump up the home team.
The Mavericks’ poor shooting didn’t help. They shot 6-of-16 in the first quarter and finished the game vainly launching 3-pointers.
The Wizards had the hotter hand for most of the night, finishing with 39-of-84 from the floor (46.4 percent).
Carlisle admitted that his team’s defense was "disappointing."
"When we shoot well, everything falls into place," he said.
"The challenge for us is to defend well and hold ourselves in the game when we’re not shooting great."
The eight new faces?
Eight wasn’t enough, not on this night.
Actually, only four new Mavericks played in the opener. By far, the best of the new players was Shawn Marion, who logged 35-plus minutes, scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
But after Marion burned the Wizards with running hooks from the free-throw line in the first quarter, he didn’t make another field goal until the fourth quarter.
A calf injury bothered Marion throughout the preseason, and it’s apparently affected his stamina.
"He plays at such a high capacity," Carlisle said. "He gets winded quickly. There’s going to be a period here where he has to get himself back into shape.
"He’s obviously a terrific player. We need him."
Besides Marion’s 16 points, Dirk Nowitzki finished with 34 and nine rebounds.
But with Gilbert Arenas working his way to 29 points for Washington and Andray Blatche coming off the bench to score 20, the Mavericks couldn’t counter.
J.J. Barea provided a spark for the Mavs, especially in an otherwise lifeless second quarter. But the NBA’s Sixth Man honoree last season, Jason Terry, was 4-of-15 from the floor and couldn’t shoot the Mavericks back into it, and newcomer Drew Gooden went virtually unnoticed during his 15-plus minutes.
"You’ve got to come out running, playing our type of ball," Terry said, "and we didn’t do that tonight.
"We gave them some confidence by giving them some easy baskets, and we paid for it. You can’t do that against any team in the league, especially one that’s pretty much relying on one man to take control of the ballgame."
He was talking about Arenas, who was a problem for the Mavericks all night, despite frequent double-teaming.
Another of the Mavericks’ newcomers, Quinton Ross, is expected to provide help to the defense. But the Wizards didn’t seem all that impressed.
Carlisle wasn’t singling out anyone, but he observed, "The guys on the bench ... When they come in, they’ve got to be engaged in the game."
Engagement, however, didn’t come easily on this opening night. The new high-definition video board didn’t do much for the low-energy effort.
"We have to play better basketball," Carlisle said, summing up the dull night. "We have to make more shots and be able to get the ball inside more. And we’re going to have to be able to make stops.
"It’s as simple as that. At this point, that’s kind of where we are."
GIL LeBRETON, 817-390-7760
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