Publicly, they said all the right things. Gary Payton spoke about his relationship with his own father, saying he hugged 'Mr. Mean' -- Al Payton -- after hearing the news. The organization placed a message expressing their sympathies on their website.

But somewhere deep down inside, you just know that the Sonics privately have to be happy they won't face Tim Duncan tonight, even if it's for as tragic a reason as the passing of his father, for which SonicsCentral.com too publicly expresses our sympathies and condolences.

And why shouldn't they be a little happy, if it's a guilty sort of happy? In his fifth season in the NBA, Tim Duncan has emerged as the second most-powerful force in the NBA, trailing only a certain center from Los Angeles. Amongst us mere mortals, Duncan is as good as they get, and he's been busily proving why he should be the NBA's MVP -- he'd be my vote if I were to receive a ballot -- during the first three games of this playoff series, averaging 26.7 points, 11.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 5.3 blocks and ripping off a triple-double. With all due respect to box sheet-fillers like New Jersey's Jason Kidd and Charlotte's Baron Davis, who has pulled off consecutive triple-doubles -- on the road, no less -- to best Orlando, Duncan puts up bigger numbers across the board.

Duncan is so good on the defensive end -- that rare superstar for whom an All-Defense position, as he was named to the first team for the fourth time yesterday, is no token honor whatsoever -- and on the glass, that even if he weren't a great scorer, he would be almost as valuable as a player like Detroit's Ben Wallace, named Defensive Player of the Year last week and considered a marginal MVP candidate in some circles, including this one. Add that to his offensive dominance . . . and some people act like his absence might help the Spurs by inspring them to win?

Are you kidding me? That's like saying that "Seinfeld" would have been better off without Jerry. Or the Bulls without Jordan. And it's testament to Duncan's ability that those words don't sound to me like the hyperbole of an overeager writer -- like the comments about Tony Parker this past week -- but instead normal, level-headed comments.

No team in the NBA is as reliant on its star player like the Spurs on Duncan. His 'supporting cast', to borrow a term from Jordan, just can't compare. An aging David Robinson is nice, but he's surely no Kobe to Duncan's Shaq, no Stojakovic to Duncan's Webber, no Walker to Duncan's Pierce.

And now the Spurs don't even have Robinson! It will be the first time since Robinson's injury-riddled 1996-97 season -- you know, the one that allowed the Spurs to break Rick Pitino's heart and draft Duncan -- that a San Antonio NBA team will play a game with neither Robinson nor Duncan.

What does that leave in the middle? Mark Bryant and Cherokee Parks, who, with all due respect, are not exactly household names. And while we've learned how little that means thanks to this season's Sonics no-name squad, Bryant is old and wasn't that good in his prime, and Parks has played little all season. It takes a rare combination to make Jerome James look like a really good center, and this is it.

For those of you, like me, attending tonight's game, I have a suggestion. Before the game begins, take a quiet moment in rememberence of Mr. Duncan who, while he is a stranger to all of us, still deserves it. And then get ready to rock the Key, because a formidable foe suddenly got a lot weaker, if only for game four. And the Sonics -- and the fans -- are the beneficiaries.