It's hard to blame anyone for that loss. Bonzi continued to play out of his gourd. Artest was unstoppable in the last six minutes or so. Bibby hit a big shot. Martin stayed in front of Parker. Miller played serviceable defense on Duncan most of the night.

Let's see… who can I blame? Adelman coached rather well – he called some well-timed time-outs for a change, and went with the lineup that was best performing. Hart didn't destroy the team when he came in as Bibby (Mike Bibby!) had foul trouble (!!). Kenny Thomas was pretty much a Hack-a-Duncan guy, and Shareef had some nice shots and some horrid turnovers.

Hmm. Who to blame, who to blame? How about President Bush? He's from Texas, right? So was Lyndon B. Johnson – let's blame him, too. In fact, I blame the entire state (republic?) of Texas for that Texas. Screw you, Texas! Screw you! (Except Lance Armstrong. And Sandy the Squirrel. Y'alls are OK by me.)

Chalk it up to the defending world champ holding court in a must-win. It sucks, but it's life in the NBA.

Let's hope the execution can be stayed until Sunday, at the earliest.