updated 3:45 p.m. ET Jan. 4, 2007

WASHINGTON - If Gilbert Arenas keeps this up, he’ll have some MVP votes to go with his “swag.”

As if dropping 60 and 54 points in the last three weeks weren’t enough, the Washington Wizards point guard gave the nation’s capital a show-stopping, Jordan-esque moment Wednesday with a game-winning buzzer-beater from 32 feet.

To top it all off, Arenas acted as if he’d been there before. He turned his back to the basket with a snarl and starting strolling away while the ball was in flight. The players celebrated the 108-105 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks at midcourt by greeting their star with chest bumps and yelling “Hibachi!” — the word Arenas sometimes yells when he knows he’s hit all net.

“We call it swag,” teammate Antawn Jamison said. “Gil has a great amount of swag out there. Once he took that shot, you definitely saw it.”

Arenas is averaging 36 points in his last nine games. The Wizards are 15-1 when he scores 30 or more. He is third in the league in scoring and is closing in on leaders Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson, yet he’s third in the All-Star balloting among Eastern Conference guards behind Dwyane Wade and Vince Carter.

Arenas’ teammates are beside themselves that he’s still known more for being an oddball — which he is — than for being one of the game’s best.

“The guy’s been playing like this all year. Of late, the last month or so, it’s been unbelievable,” Jamison said. “I’ve never been a part of a team where a guy’s been performing the way he’s been performing.”

After the game, Arenas was his usual colorful self while describing the shot. He claimed to be 8-for-8 from 35 feet or so this season.

“I don’t know why this is a surprise to you guys now,” he said.

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But Arenas also showed himself to be a true student of the game as he talked about receiving the ball in the backcourt from Jamison, who had just grabbed a rebound, with the score tied and six seconds left. Arenas said his mind flashed to the Chicago-Phoenix game on Tuesday, when Leandro Barbosa answered Ben Gordon and hit a game-winner for the Suns.

“Ben Gordon hit the 2 and left some time on the clock, and Barbosa hit the 3,” Arenas said. “That starts running through your head, and that’s the reason you go for the gusto.”

But Arenas pulled up at 32 feet. Why so far away? He had time to take one more dribble, especially with Charlie Bell and the Bucks backing up.

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“I was looking at their feet,” Arenas said. “They were still in retreat mode so I decide, ’OK, this was the best time’ — instead of getting to that danger where something stupid could happen. I go in there, I lose the ball, they’ve got three seconds to come back, and anything can happen from there, so the best thing to do is pull up.”

Besides, Arenas practices shots from that distance all the time, although he said he was at the extent of his range because it was his first game of the season with the leather basketball, which replaced the synthetic balls on New Year’s Day.

“It feels like a medicine ball now,” he said. “It’s here. We have to deal with it. I really can’t complain. I hit a nice little shot at the end.”

Arenas is turning 25 on Saturday and will have huge, star-studded birthday party at a nightclub after Friday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers.

So, next came the obvious question: Was the game-winning shot an early birthday present for himself?

“No,” Arenas said. “We got one more game.”

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