Like Clockwork, Another Timeless Moment

Before Game 5, Gilbert Arenas was understood to be one of the most improvisational scorers in pro basketball, a fledgling all-star who could get his shot at any time, from anywhere.

After Wednesday's contest, he joined the club -- the buzzer-beater brethren.

"The regular season is for stars," Charles Barkley once said, "the postseason is for superstars."

Playing well in the first 82 games begets contract extensions, all-NBA selections and respect from your peers. Rising and firing in a 14-footer to win a franchise's first road playoff game in 19 years -- siphoning hope out of 23,000 people who would have died happy if you had just missed -- changes how other players perceive you and how you perceive yourself.

"Truthfully, I don't know what it will do for me," Arenas said last night in a telephone interview. He had just left MCI Center, where he, Antawn Jamison and the suspended Kwame Brown went through an informal workout. "If we get out of the first round or we go far, that's the shot that did it. If we don't go far, it's a big shot but it doesn't mean as much."

At the least, Arenas moved closer to the barrier with that shot over Kirk Hinrich and Tyson Chandler, the invisible line between very good and transcendent. Everyone from Mike Bibby to Kobe Bryant crossed that line at some point in the postseason, hitting a game-winning jump shot that often means more than two or three points.

In Arenas's case, it could mean everything.

Aside from the Clippers, no other NBA team has gone without a genuine superstar longer than Washington. There have been perennial all-stars in training (Chris Webber and Ben Wallace) and there has been novelty (the Bruise Brothers of Jeff Ruland and Rick Mahorn). There have been other players, such as Jeff Malone, players who have calmly made big shots at the end of big games. Yet Arenas may be the first to evolve into the closest thing Abe Pollin has had to a superstar since Wes Unseld, Elvin Hayes and Earl Monroe. Unseld retired as a rock of a player, one of the greatest of his era. Monroe captivated Pollin's fan base during its early years, spinning and twisting in the lane until the ball fell through the net, the way Arenas's ball fell through in Game 5.

"I've only seen it on TV," Arenas said when asked if he had ever been a part of such theater. "Only when Michael Jordan did it."

The Wizards can close out their first playoff series in 23 years tonight because their 23-year-old point guard has been growing by the possession in less than two weeks.

Game 1, Arenas embodied his shell-shocked teammates, shooting 3 for 19 in his first playoff game.

Game 2, he was the typical young player who needed to score to prove himself. Arenas finished with 39 points but had just four assists in another Wizards' loss.