After fouling out with just over six minutes remaining and his team down 10 Saturday night in Game 4 of the Heat-Wizards series, point guard Gilbert Arenas threw in the towel.  

 Well, sort of.

 In an act of sheer despair and frustration, Arenas, figuring his team was left for dead, took his jersey off and tossed it into the stands and proceeded to take a seat on the bench with only a tank top on. All he could do was sit and watch the final moments of a series that could not end fast enough.

 How could you really blame Gilbert for feeling dejected?  Without their top scorer on the floor, no way were the Wizards coming back from a double-digit deficit against a vastly superior foe in the Heat.  Where would the offense come from?

 Except, the Wiz did make a comeback and then some.  Arenas perhaps had given up hope, but not his teammates, who in a five-minute span - thanks to a pair of three-pointers by Juan Dixon and one by Antawn Jamison - were able to take a 95-94 lead with 1:15 remaining.  The improbable became a reality.

 Well, again, sort of.  

 Washington was unable to keep Miami down for long.  Eddie Jones? game-winning three with 14.9 seconds remaining and Alonzo Mourning?s ensuing game-saving block on Larry Hughes helped preserve a 97-95 Heat victory and a trip to the conference finals.  The Wizards, meanwhile, can only reflect back on what was a storybook season (a 20-win improvement from last season, earned a playoff birth for the first time in eight years, won a playoff game for the first time in 17 years and won a playoff series for the first time in 23 years) and try to take the next step in becoming an upper-echelon Eastern Conference team a year from now.  

 If Washington is indeed going to make the leap from a young team on the rise to an Eastern Conference powerhouse, the onus will be on Arenas to take his game to a whole other level, because if the Wizards? late-game heroics in the series finale against Miami revealed anything, it?s that they are a better team without Arenas on the floor.

  Ask head coach Eddie Jordan what his team needs the most in the off-season and he?ll tell you an athletic big man, especially with Kwame Brown?s future in the U.S. capital in serious jeopardy after he was suspended by the team during the playoffs.  And while the Wizards are definitely in need of some frontcourt help, they also need Arenas to start playing like a true floor general and not someone who only seems interested in padding his stat line.

 Statistically, Arenas had a fantastic year.  In addition to being named an All-Star for the first time last February, his 25.5 points and 4.7 rebounds per game in the regular season were career highs.  His 1.74 steals per game ranked 6th in the NBA, while his 205 three-point field goals made ranked 5th. But Arenas also has a tendency of falling in love with his sub-par jump shot rather than make his teammates better by getting them involved in the offense.

 Arenas shot a putrid .382% from the field in the Miami series (well below his season average of .431%, though 43% shooting is nothing to get excited about) yet nevertheless attempted the most field goal attempts on the team (19 per game).  While Arenas did average 5.8 assists per game in the series, he was inconsistent at best when it came to involving his teammates, especially when he was struggling with his shot.

 In Game 4, Arenas finished with a team-high 25 points but shot just 5-for-17 from the field.  Instead of looking to distribute the ball, Arenas was content on being a one-man wrecking crew by attacking the basket and getting to the free throw line.  While he was 14-for-19 from the stripe, Arenas finished with only 3 assists - not enough from your point guard in an elimination game.  Not enough from your point guard, period.

 So it was anything but a coincidence, really, to see the Wizards? offense run so much more efficiently with their All-Star point guard on the bench in crunch time.  Gone were the stagnant possessions and circus-like shots early in the shot clock, and in came a more free-flowing offense that revolved around great ball movement (the 3?s late in the game by both Dixon and Jamison were a result of the Wizards making the extra pass which set up wide open looks at the basket).

 ?This season was a learning process for a young team,? said Jordan following his team?s elimination Saturday night.  ?It was a stepping stone to all of the good things that will happen to this organization.?

  There?s a lot of optimism in Washington right now, as there should be.  But there?s also a lot of room for improvement.  Teams will be gunning for the Wizards next season, particularly the Big Three (assuming, of course, free agent-to-be Larry Hughes is re-signed over the summer), who averaged over 67 points per game this season.  Arenas, as the point guard, will have to do a better of job of involving his entire team in the flow of the offense.

 There is no questioning Arenas? talent; he?s a bona fide star in the league.  But the Wizards need Arenas to evolve into more of a pass-first point guard if they expect to make legitimate strides as a franchise in the years to come.  

 If not, Arenas will wind up being just another Stephon Marbury, a self-proclaimed great point guard who will never lead his team to glory.  

 Kostas.Bolos@realgm.com