TWENTY-THREE years ago, I sat next to Buck Williams on the way home from the Capital Centre in Landover, Md., after the Bullets swept Larry Brown’s Nets in a best-of-three mini playoff round. Albert King, a Terrapin teammate of Williams before both forwards exited early and were drafted Nos. 10 and 3, respectively, was slumped in his seat several rows behind.

Abe Pollin’s team, which he has owned since the ’60s when it played in Baltimore, didn’t capture another series until Friday night when his renamed, relocated Washington Wizards hardly made mincemeat of the Bulls.

Yet, thanks to a death-defying defensive play by Gilbert Arenas and an astonishing turnover by Kirk Hinrich, Chicago was eradicated in six games, nonetheless.

It’s safe to say Pollin hasn’t been this giddy since he took away Michael Jordan’s key to the executive washroom.

I’m not sure what’s more captivating in the capital, the Wizards reaching the second round or George Bush getting to a second term. I am sure which occasion provoked more partying, well, at least cheaper celebrating, anyway.

While 20,000 unfaithful-turned-confirmed believers rejoiced inside the MCI Center, long after Washington’s whippersnappers had eked out the 94-91 clincher, thousands of fans pleasantly whooped it up on the streets.

“We want Shaq! We want Shaq!” one plump clump repeatedly chanted.

Some guy hangin’ on the fringe of the benign delirium asked what I thought the Wizards’ chances are against Miami. I tried my best not to disillusion him too much.

“You might want Christian Laettner or Michael Doleac,” I said. “I’m not sure you really want Shaq. Or Dwyane Wade, either.”

My walk-by snide remark didn’t make a dent. The guy was in too good a mood. He and his friends simply started a new chant: “We want Laettner. We want Laettner.”

Back in the hotel, my mind drifted back to arguably the league’s all-time greatest collective matchup: Earl Monroe vs. Frazier; Gus Johnson vs. Dave DeBusschere; Wes Unseld vs. Willis Reed; Jack Marin vs. Bill Bradley; Kevin Loughery/Fred Carter vs. Dick Barnett.

As exalted as that Bullets team was, the franchise didn’t win its first title until ’79 in a rematch with the Sonics. Unseld beat out teammate Elvin Hayes, 3-2, for Finals’ MVP; once Unseld learns I cast the deciding vote in his favor he may be compelled to return the car awarded in those days by Sport Magazine.

Prior to bouncing the Bulls, the last time the Wizards won a seven-game series was during those playoffs. The last time they won a playoff game was 18 seasons ago.

Like the series they won 23 years ago, this one will never be forgotten either, because there was so much misery over two decades of incoming and outgoing coaches (12) and players (183) . . . it was achieved under Eddie Jordan’s guidance and despite Michael Jordan’s donation of Kwame Brown . . . and because of Game 6’s defining moments, all involving Hinrich.

At the end of three, Hinrich, a superlative, old school guard, had accrued 22 points, eight assists and two turnovers. He was the single most dominant reason the Bulls led 74-68. “Nothing bad happens when the ball is in his hands,” I wrote to myself. He added one assist and one other positive split second to that total the rest of the way.

With less than three minutes remaining, Bulls up 91-87, Hinrich stripped Larry Hughes in the backcourt when he tried to escape pressure with an around-the-back dribble. Renowned for his warp speed, Hinrich took off with Hughes in pursuit; he only needed two steps, three at most, to elevate for what looked like a psychologically heightening / crushing basket.

Problem was, Hinrich was so focused on evading the trailing Hughes on his left he never saw Arenas streaking out of nowhere from his right. Legend has it The World’s Most Famous Arenas is able to give scholarship sprinters five and 10-yard head starts and still beat ’em in a 60-yard dash. Hinrich had a sizeable head start and only a short way to paydirt and still had his shot swatted off the backboard by Arenas, whose elbows appeared to be above the rim. Hughes scored at the other end to make it 91-89.

Next thing you know, Antawn Jamison is deflecting Hinrich’s looping entrance pass and ties the score on a long jumper. Now everybody on the Bulls is rattled. Following a 20-second time out there’s major miscommunication on an inbounds play; Hinrich hits a cutting Chris Duhon in the back with a pass, Jarred Jeffries scoops up the loose ball (and is credited with a steal???) for the decisive layup.

On the way to the airport yesterday morning, I talked some Wizards b-ball to my cab driver, a 67-year-old retired fireman who grew up on a farm in Georgia.

“They were lucky last night,” he said. “But sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.”

I told him I’ve been writing about the team since the late ’60s. He told me he moved to D.C. about ’63. “I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up but I knew what I didn’t want to be.”

As it turns out my driver’s daughter married a former NBA player: Albert King.