Wizards Work a Little Magic to Finish Bulls

In Game 5, he made the game-winning shot. In Game 6, he made the game-altering block.

Although there are plenty of reasons why Washington is headed to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in 23 years, let there be no mistake: Gilbert Arenas is the man who led them there.

Arenas made only six of 24 shots Friday night but raced downcourt and blocked Kirk Hinrich’s layup with 2:41 to play, igniting a game-ending 7-0 run in the Wizards’ series-clinching 94-91 victory over Chicago.

“That was a big play, a huge play,” Washington Coach Eddie Jordan said. “Gilbert didn’t shoot the ball well, but there are players who have a will and a determination to win, who will do anything they have to do to help their team win.”

The Wizards, who won the series, 4-2, advanced for the first time since the then-Bullets’ 2-0 sweep of New Jersey in 1982, back when the first round was best-of-three.

“I was just born, huh?” said the 23-year-old Arenas. “It’s a great feeling for us. We believed we can go far, and we’re showing it. It’s been an uphill battle with injuries and players missing, but we stayed together and kept believing.”

The Wizards aren’t getting much of a break to enjoy their success. They open the second round on Sunday at Miami.

Larry Hughes scored 21 points for the Wizards, and Arenas and Antawn Jamison each had 19.

The Bulls led for nearly the entire second half but failed to score in the final 2:53.

“I don’t want to say ‘fell apart,’ but we dismantled at the end,” Hinrich said.

Andres Nocioni and Hinrich scored 22 points apiece for the Bulls, who made a remarkable comeback from an 0-9 start to the season to make the playoffs for the first time in seven years.

Chicago hasn’t won in Washington since 2001, a losing streak that has reached 11 games.

Neither team led by more than 10 in a tense game with several scoring droughts. Neither team scored in the final 3:55 of the third quarter, with the Wizards’ missed-shot streak reaching 13 before Jamison made a three-point basket early in the fourth. Arenas missed eight consecutive shots.