That sound you hear is the press and just about everyone else hopping off what has slowly developed into the on-again, off-again Wizards bandwagon. Is Michael Jordan pooped out?

After an amazing run, the Wizards are hurtling back to earth, losers of five of their last six. Without another viable scoring option, Michael Jordan is looking all too human, especially at the end of games. Jordan is not the fourth-quarter scoring machine he once was. Even in games in which Jordan starts off hot, he fades quickly in the second half.

Even when he has good games, the box scores can be deceiving.

Jordan scored 28 points in the first half Tuesday night versus the Sixers, but made just 1 of 8 shots in the second half. Monday night, Jordan made 2 of 15 shots and scored just seven of his 29 points in the second half of the Wizards' 105-101 loss to Minnesota. His Jan. 12 performance versus the Wolves ended in a similar fashion. Jordan scored 12 points in the first quarter and made 6 of 8 shots and scored 14 points in the second. However, he scored just nine points in the second half. In a loss to the Bucks the night before, Jordan had just six of his 22 points in the second half.

"The defense the second half, everybody was figuring I was more or less tired," Jordan told the Washington Post after Tuesday's loss. "I think the defense focused on zoning up on me and forcing everybody else to make shots. It kind of caught us off-guard and we were not able to move the ball properly. We kind of got in disarray and we were never able to get into any rhythm. Their defense kicked it up a notch."

Coach Doug Collins was more blunt. "Our guys are exhausted. They're dead. We've played undermanned," Collins said after the game. "They're physically tired. They're emotionally tired. We haven't had many easy wins. Everything we do we have to scratch and claw for. As we get a little tired, we get stagnant."

Is the issue second-half defenses as Jordan contends or is MJ getting tired? It seems to be a little of both. There appears to be a trend, call it the NBA rope-a-dope, where defenses allow Jordan to expend a lot of energy and score as much as he wants in the first half. Then when Jordan comes out for the second half a bit winded, they clamp down and force someone else on the Wizards to beat them. With Richard Hamilton out, and the rest of the Wizards standing around again, watching Jordan score, no one has seemed up to the challenge.

But clearly, the amount of minutes Jordan is logging is also having an effect. With the exception of the blow-out loss to the Nets, in which he logged a paltry 18 minutes, Jordan is back up to averaging 40 minutes a game again. Only three players over the age of 35, Karl Malone, Dikembe Mutombo and Reggie Miller, are averaging 36 or more minutes a game.

A league source close to Jordan said he is hurting and exhausted. The tendinitis in his knees is back and his legs are going completely toward the end of games. If Jordan keeps up this pace, he could find himself on the injured list soon, completely derailing the Wizards' bid at the playoffs.

Will coach Doug Collins begin limiting Jordan's minutes during the first half of games? The same league source said Collins is seriously considering it. The move would allow Jordan's legs to remain fresher for the end of games, cut down on the total minutes Jordan plays and allow other Wizards players to get involved in the offense before Jordan is completely spent.

Although the move may be a short-term solution until Hamilton returns (sometime in February), is there a long-term solution for the Wizards? As the season progresses, will Jordan be able to maintain even a modified pace?

"He's determined," an Eastern Conference coach told Insider. "But, he's not unstoppable anymore. For older players in the league, the regular season is like a marathon. Jordan is running a sprint. Unless other players in the Wizards start stepping up, I don't see them in the playoffs."