WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Gilbert Arenas listened to his coach, and the results were spectacular.
Arenas notched his first career triple-double with 25 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists as the Washington Wizards ended the Dallas Mavericks' three-game winning streak with a 100-90 victory.
Washington coach Eddie Jordan was not happy with the amount of shots for Arenas, who signed a six-year, $64 million in the offseason. Arenas, who claimed he wanted to get his teammates involved, took only nine shots in Washington's loss to New Jersey on Saturday, and Jordan urged him to be more aggressive.
"I guess when I'm more aggressive, I'm more aggressive all across the board," Arenas said. "I get people open because I'm driving and penetrating, but when I sit on the perimeter, it's not helping our team out."
"It pretty much started with Gilbert tonight," Jordan said. "He was pushing the ball, getting to the rim and he was truly the catalyst today."
Arenas heeded those words in the first quarter by nailing 6-of-9 shots for 12 points, adding three assists. Larry Hughes nailed all four of his 3-pointers in the first half as Washington made eight of its first 13.
The Wizards finished with a franchise-record 13 3-pointers on 30 attempts, giving the perimeter-oriented Mavericks a dose of their own medicine.
"We run the offense to get open looks and they allowed us to stand on the line and shoot threes," Hughes said. "We didn't have to shoot 3-pointers two to three feet back; we were right on the line shooting jump shots."
Kwame Brown's first career 3-pointer gave the Wizards a 59-43 halftime advantage, and they built on it to start the second half. Arenas scored on Washington's first possession and set up Jared Jeffries' dunk that capped a 9-2 spurt for a 68-45 cushion with 8:40 left in the third quarter.
Dallas was hurt by the loss of All-Star point guard Steve Nash to a sprained left shoulder in the first quarter. Fellow All-Star Dirk Nowitzki struggled and scored just nine points on 1-of-9 shooting.
"I really don't know how it happened," Nash said. "It just got more sore every possession, after every bump. When I came out, I couldn't even make certain movements at all."
Arenas notched the first triple-double by a Wizard since Rod Strickland in April 1999. He was 11-of-25 from the floor after taking 33 shots in his first three games.
"I just did what I did - just played my game and whatever came to me came to me," Arenas said. "I rebounded, dished the ball, scored. Like a point guard - like a Jason Kidd or Gary Payton, like what they do - just help the team win."
Nash managed two points and a pair of assists in seven minutes and struggled keep up with Arenas. After Nash left, veteran Travis Best found himself chasing around the Wizards point guard.
Hughes netted 19 points and Christian Laettner added 13, 13 rebounds and matched a career high with five blocks. Rookie Jarvis Hayes, who came in third in the NBA among rookies in scoring, chipped in 13 points.
"Overall, I think we played good defense," Hayes said. "Obviously, they are going to get some points because they have some pretty good weapons, but overall we played pretty good defense on them."
Washington was also buoyed by its pair of former Maryland backcourt mates, Juan Dixon and rookie Steve Blake. The duo combined on a pair of fast breaks in the second quarter and Dixon scored 11 points in 14 minutes.
After Dallas pulled within 81-70 early in the fourth quarter, the Blake-to-Dixon combination struck again, combining on a layup that led to seven straight points. Hayes' 3-pointer ended the run, effectively ending any hopes of a comeback by the Mavericks.
Antawn Jamison scored 21 points to lead Dallas and Antoine Walker added 18. Michael Finley made 3-of-13 shots for 11.
