When last the Orlando Magic saw Michael Jordan, his Washington Wizards were in shambles, his balky knee was giving him fits and he was getting his patented fall-away jumper swatted by the younger, more athletic Tracy McGrady.

But in a matter of three weeks, the looks of McGrady's Magic and Jordan's Wizards have undergone major role reversals.

Grant Hill had another season-ending surgery on Wednesday and Orlando will be without McGrady (strained back) when it hosts the Wizards at a sold-out TD Waterhouse Centre.McGrady, who ranks fourth in the NBA in scoring at 26 points per game, strained his lower back last week and spent a second day in Atlanta Thursday undergoing treatment at the Atlanta Back Clinic. Doctors do not believe McGrady suffered any structural damage, but he won't play Friday night or in Saturday's road game in Dallas and his return is still up in the air.

Meanwhile, Washington hits Orlando with a seven-game winning streak. While the Wizards have beaten just one team that has a winning record during the run, the success is still stunning considering that they were 5-12 at one point.

"I thought Michael was really struggling the last time with his knee, but now he's fresh," said coach Doc Rivers, whose Magic defeated Utah 98-90 on Wednesday without McGrady and Hill. "Obviously they're a different basketball team, a confident basketball team.

"Michael has done a hell of a job allowing the other guys on his team to play. Early on, Michael was doing a lot of the playing. Now, everyone has joined into the fray and it shows."

Jordan's much ballyhooed return to the NBA has filled arenas throughout the NBA. Friday night's game will be the 24th sellout Jordan has played in front of. Even the game he missed in San Antonio because of knee pain drew a crowd of 35,052.

The sellout will be the first of the season for Orlando. When single-game tickets went on sale back in September, the Magic sold 1,300 tickets to the two home games against Jordan and the Wizards in 14 minutes.

"We were one of the last teams to beat them and we know they're gonna come in here ready to play," said Magic point guard Darrell Armstrong, who had 24 points, nine assists, six rebounds and three steals in Wednesday's win."We know Mike is going to be Mike. I've played against him so many years now, but you know he is going to bring excitement and intensity to the game. It should be fun."

Early in the season Jordan not only looked old and downright mortal, he also looked very alone. But lately he's gotten more from his teammates by doing less. His minutes have gone down during the winning streak, and he's deferring more to small forward Richard Hamilton and reserve center Brendan Haywood.

"Michael has already accomplished what he wanted to accomplish as far as I can see," Rivers said of Jordan, who is averaging 23.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.3 assists a game. "You have Richard Hamilton playing hard, Jahidi White and Haywood playing hard. That's absolutely Jordan's doing.

"I don't know if he came back to be a great player, but he is. But I know he came back to teach the young people on his team how to play hard and he's done that. So Michael has already accomplished what he's set out to do. Now, I hope he retires."