So You Think You Dislike the NBA?

Today's Hemingway will straighten you out

On FreeForAll Friday, please give a warm TML welcome to Mobster Scott Seward. Today’s Hemingway is so convincing in his love for the NBA, I’m considering lacing up my fly Skechers high-cuts and watching Nikola Jokic for the first time. . . ever.

Stick around for the Weekend Entertainment, ie Imbiber Dave and Hey Michelle! Have a productive weekend.

Take it away, Scott. . .

Scott Seward returned to his native Cincinnati in 2023 after 21 years in California, where he was director of marketing for the Carmel Bach Festival and before that, director of communications for the Northern California Golf Association. He currently works for the Bach Ensemble of St. Thomas in Terrace Park and the Longworth-Anderson Series. He is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Xavier University and plays trumpet professionally. He and his wife reside in Mariemont.

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I grew up in Cincinnati and graduated from UC-CCM but picked up a lifelong Xavier basketball fandom because my then-girlfriend, and now-wife of 32 years, played in the pep band. We lived in California for more than 20 years and jumped on the Golden State Warriors’ bandwagon the year of their first title (2015).

Jumping on that bandwagon opened up a new world to me. I still follow Xavier passionately, but between late April and mid-June, I follow the best sporting event of the year—the NBA playoffs. It was easy to get hooked. My Warriors won three titles in the first four years I started cheering for them. The one year they lost was in 2016, in one of the most dramatic game 7s sports has seen—look up the LeBron James block if you want to have your breath taken away. In 2017, the team acquired Kevin Durant in free agency and became the best team in the history of the sport (IMO). After a 67-15 regular season, they went 16-1 in the playoffs. 

Their exquisite ball movement sometimes looked like a real version of Globetrotters vs. the Washington Generals. In the clip below, the Warriors score via a dunk less than 4 seconds after winning a jump ball on the opposite end of the court.

To top it off, Xavier great David West finished his long career with this team, and it was a joy to see him win two NBA championships. You can see his picture holding the championship trophy at the Cintas Center.

David West brings to mind another reason to be an NBA fan now. We got to watch West develop into Xavier’s greatest player over four years. Today? Never happening. Des Claude leaving Xavier because of NIL money is just the latest in a long line of transfers that make it just about impossible to be a college fan. Every year your team is going to be radically different. I got to watch Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson in Warriors uniforms for 12 years. While this is unusual, the contrast with the college game today is stark.

Just because I find it immensely entertaining, here’s a minute and a half of Steph Curry no-look 3s. Yes, he shoots, then starts to run back to play defense with the shot halfway to the basket because he knows it's going in. That level of confidence is kind of crazy. Curry is the most influential player in modern basketball history. The “pace and space” game, centered around 3-point shots or shots at the rim grew into fashion because of the Warriors of the last decade. Curry’s step-child is Caitlin Clark.

But in a non-NBA city, it can be easy to ignore the best basketball of the year. While the do-or-die nature of March Madness is compelling, give me a 7-game series. Pick any series, even teams you might not know, and start with game 1.

It’s fascinating to watch the defensive adjustments that occur game-to-game to take away options. The high degree of basketball IQ is palpable. And there’s a real atmosphere because the games are always played on someone’s home court, unlike in March Madness.

The New York Knicks came from 5 down to the Sixers in the last 47 seconds to win by three. There’s one insanely intense series of plays that result in a go-ahead 3, and the home crowd goes berserk. These things happen in March Madness, but not as often as when you have 16 teams playing best-of-7 series until two are left for the finals. Here’s the Knicks-Sixers ending:

Two hours later, the Nuggets beat the Lakers on a buzzer beater. Again, a berserk crowd.

These endings are not an anomaly. They happen all the time in the playoffs. Two really good teams in a close game that has meaning are almost guaranteed to produce this kind of intense drama in the last two minutes. 

Over the next few weeks, I suggest following the Denver Nuggets, because their offense is otherworldly. Jokić takes the concept of “court-mapping,” the ability to understand where players are not the court, where the empty space is, and how to exploit it, to an unprecedented level.

The college game can easily adopt a few NBA rules and practices and make the game so much more enjoyable to watch:

• Train refs to stop guessing at calls. You can’t really quantify how much better NBA refs are, mainly because they don’t guess at calls. Much less fouling, better flow. My wife and I went to a couple X games this winter that were killed by too many whistles. I’m not complaining about calls against Xavier; I’m talking about total foul calls. The Xavier-Houston game in December saw 55 foul shots attempted. In a 40-minute game.

• Bring back the jump ball! It’s such a buzz kill to see your college team play great defense and tie the ball up and nothing happens because of the alternating possession. Jump balls are exciting because the taller or more athletic player might get the tip, but in the scramble after the other team ends up with the ball.

• There are up to 16 time-outs in the college game (40 minutes) versus 14 in a pro game (48 minutes). And in the NBA you will not see two time-outs separated by 9 seconds due to the media timeout. 

• The last two minutes of a close NBA game rarely bog down into an endless parade to the free throw line. You can only hold two timeouts until the last two minutes in the NBA, and because of a shorter shot clock (24 seconds) and much better outside shooting, teams can come back without having to foul. The other highly controversial thing the NBA (and women’s college basketball) does is allow teams to advance the ball from the backcourt to the frontcourt on a timeout in the last two minutes. I understand the arguments as to why this doesn’t make sense, but in the end, anything that cuts down fouling to stop the clock seems worthwhile to me. 

One last thought experiment—if Nikola Jokić, currently the best player in the world, joined a 16th-seeded team for March Madness, would that team make the final four? I say yes, without question. He physically can’t be stopped, but he also possesses a savant-like view of the court and makes passes to teammates who don’t realize they are as wide open as Jokić does!

Tune of the day—Oakland’s own Tower of Power performing their anthem, “What is Hip?”. There are several recordings to choose from, but this one from 2006 has the group’s original keyboard player, Chester Thompson, as well as Carlos Santana sitting in. (If you like Santana, anytime you hear horns on his songs, that’s the TOP horn line.) As for “What is Hip?”, the complexity and harmonic and rhythmic tension are almost overwhelming by the end of the tune. If you’ve ever seen the group live, you know that the audience goes into a kind of trance. It’s pretty incredible! Enjoy.

AND NOW. . .

Spent an amazing weekend here in our wonderful city with some of our best friends from college. The kickoff was a show at Bogarts, the same joint we went to back when we were in college *cough cough* 20+ years ago.

Some of you may remember Owl City. I’ll come clean and tell you no one in our crew had any idea that this group was largely one extremely talented individual with the ability to play 12 instruments, seemingly simultaneously. Very fun.

Dinner was at Lalo on Court St downtown. This is an Asian kitchen with a Latin American flair. So bibimbap or Pad Thai with Mexican influence. It’s amazing. Pairing this cuisine with margaritas and Palomas really hit the spot.

Saturday we toured Findlay Market, which of course meant Blue Oven Bakery for the best English muffins in the city, Urbana Cafe for the best cortado in the city, and a visit to Galactic Cantina, nestled inside Cosmic Gorilla Comic Shop for some cocktails.

The weather was perfect, so we spent some time on Rhinegeist’s rooftop sipping some Valor and Kerzna Lagers as we looked over downtown. I’m officially ready for 20 more imbibing weekends just like that here!

Cheers!
cincybeerguydave@gmail.com

HEYMICHELLE!

Art ~ Essex Studios Art Walk Friday 6-10 in Walnut Hills, browse and buy from local artists, live music, food and it’s free.

Westside Market ~ Saturday 10-3 over 100 vendors, fitness workout at 9 30, food trucks and DORA hit up this fun, free event

Florence Ya’lls ~ Take on the Lake Erie Crushers Friday at 1pm

Flying Pig Marathon ~ The weekend to hit the pavement in our world class marathon. If you’re a runner or just a walker join in the fun. Starting Friday with 50 West Mile , The Flying Piglet for the minis, the flying fur for the dogs to the main event Sundays 26 mile race. Go to the flying pig website for all the deets.

Derby ~ Celebrating 150 years if you can’t make it to KY check out Newport on the Levee 4-8 with live music, Derby drinks, jumbo screens showing the race.. wear your hats and be ready to Run for the Roses.

Gomez Salsa ~ Cheers to 10 years! Celebrate at Five Points Alley in Walnut Hills 4-10 Saturday with their famous turtles, tacos and more. Live music, raffles, games, piñata and more.. free event

May the 4th be with you ~ Saturday cool t-shirt giveaway at the Reds game when they take on the Orioles the 3rd-5th

Brown Bear Summer Market ~ Saturday 5pm join for tacos, local vendors, DJ, raffle and fun at one of Cincy’s favorite bakeries in OTR.

Crystals & Fossil Treasure ~ Sharonville Convention Center Saturday 10-6 Sunday 11-5 check out thousands of gems, minerals, jewelry and more.

Cinco de Mayo ~ Sunday Funday or start Saturday with tacos, music and fun at Pata Roja Taqueria on Court St., Fountain Square Sat noon-10 and Sunday noon-6 showcasing Latin culture, traaditions, food, dancers and more. Newport on the Levee Margarita Crawl with 7 locations Sunday 2-6m, OTR StillHouse Sat noon-6 games, photo. Booth, cornhole, raffles and more

Michelle Dorward Jones

HeyMichelle1 on Insta follow along 

Promoting restaurants, bars and all things fun in Cincinnati & travel