
Dwyane Wade had a message and a reminder for his teammate when it ended: “Congratulations, LeBron, you just won your first NBA Finals game.”
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Anthony Weiner has a richly-earned reputation as one of the most press savvy legislators on Capitol Hill, a smart, cocky, quick-witted quote machine who has become a favorite of television producers and built a sizable national following in the last few years.
The best that can be said, then, about the seven minutes he spent in front of reporters and television cameras late Tuesday afternoon is that his performance was totally and completely out of character.
Over and over, reporters asked him a basic, direct question: Did he send a lewd photograph to a female college student from his Twitter account or not? But Weiner -- the same man who became a national celebrity last year with a House floor rant against Republicans who refused to state clearly and simply whether they were for or against a bill -- steadfastly refused to provide an answer. Nor would he answer questions about why he hasn't asked police to investigate what he previously alleged was a hacking of his Twitter account or why he would be following a 20-year-old college student on Twitter.
For instance, here was his exchange with CNN's Dana Bash and another reporter at the start of the press conference:
Weiner: This was a prank that I’ve now been talking about for a couple of days. I’m not going to allow it to decide what I talk about for the next week or the next two weeks, and so I’m not going to be giving anything more about that today. I think I’ve been pretty responsive to you in the past.
Bash: You're here, which we appreciate. But you're not answering the questions. Can you just say why you haven’t asked law enforcement to investigate what you have said is a crime?
Weiner: If I was giving a speech to 45,000 people and someone in the back of the room threw a pie or yelled out an insult, would I spend the next two hours responding to that? No. I would get back..
Male reporter: This is not that situation. This is not that situation.i
Weiner: Well, why don't you do -- do you want to do the briefing? Do you want to do the briefing, sir?
Male reporter: You sent from your Twitter account -- a lewd photograph sent to a college student. Answer the question: Was it from you or not?
Weiner: Permit...do you guys want me to finish my answer?
Male reporter: Yes, this question: Did you send it or not?
Weiner: If I were giving a speech to 45,000 people and someone in the back of the room threw a pie or yelled out an insult, I would not spend the next two hours of my speech responding to that pie or that insult. I would return to what I want to talk about to the audience that I want to talk to...
Male reporter: All you have to do is say no to the question
Weiner: ...and that is what I intend to do this week.
Male reporter: All you have to do is say no to the question.
This evasiveness was notable, as was the lack of Weiner's trademark swagger. It was an uncharacteristically defensive performance that seemed to go on and on, with forced attempts at humor and awkward efforts to change the subject to ... Clarence Thomas. Politico's Maggie Haberman noted on Twitter that a "media savvy" non-Republican friend of hers likened it all to watching a Saw movie.
What, if anything, this all means remains unclear. All we know now is that a lewd image was apparently sent from Weiner's Twitter account over the weekend and that he has said his account was hacked (along with his Facebook page). But if he thought his appearance before the press would put the story to rest, it had the exact opposite effect. CNN played the entire seven-minute in primetime Tuesday night, and each New York network affiliate played the Weiner story prominently at the top of its 11 P.M. newscast. We can only imagine what the Post and the Daily News have in store for him in the morning.
Mike Ehrmann/ Getty Images - The NBA Finals represent a referendum on LeBron James’s progress as an all-time great NBA player.
Dwyane Wade had a message and a reminder for his teammate when it ended: “Congratulations, LeBron, you just won your first NBA Finals game.”
Either way, win or lose, hoist that big, beautiful gold ball in triumph or humbly bow his head in defeat, LeBron already owns these NBA Finals. They are his the way the 1991 Finals were Michael Jordan’s and the 2000 Finals belonged to Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal — the way the entire basketball community anxiously waited to see if the child stars had yet matured into championship adults.
The Heat was too defensive for Dirk Nowitzki and Dallas, and as white hankies rain down from the rafters of American Airlines Arena, Miami moved three wins away from Team Collusion’s stated goal.
Good sign for the Heat: Jose Barea, Jason Terry and Peja Stojakovic, who looked like a deer in headlights, missed 17 of the 21 shots they took. Dallas can’t win this without its bench outperforming Miami’s.
LeBron had a nice line — 24 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists to 1 turnover, even if he didn’t score in the fourth quarter until the game was decided.
Now here comes the double-edged sword for LeBron the next two weeks: He needs to close or the criticism won’t cease.
A great, young player only is afforded so many years to grow up and become king before the derision becomes more damning than “The Decision.”
Michael needed a grueling seven seasons to win it all. Kobe needed just four to win a title, but that’s mainly because he had Shaq, who before he won was eviscerated as a B-movie-making, hip-hopping lug more interested in studio time than court time.
When the Lakers won, the wait was over — not just for Shaq and Kobe, but for a league patiently biding its time before another star-laden team could help fill the void left by Michael’s Bulls.
Let’s be clear: A victory by LeBron and his Super Friends is important for David Stern’s NBA, almost as important as it is for the Heat and its 26-year-old supernova. Indeed, as the ball left LeBron’s hand at the end of the third quarter Tuesday night, deep on the right wing behind the three-point line, the league needed that swish almost as much as he did.
Of course this is also about whether the Mavericks can win a title in the Dirk Nowitzki era — whether Dirk and Jason Kidd will join Elgin Baylor, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, John Stockton and Charles Barkley as some of the greatest players to never celebrate an NBA championship.
But mostly this is about LeBron. Four years after his last appearance in the championship round, the next two weeks represent a referendum on his progress as an all-time great player. It’s easy to measure.
The Heat wins and he is ready to take Kobe’s place as the most necessary, must-see player in pro basketball. Miami loses, and LeBron is 0-2 in the Finals with two different teams. Completing his eighth season without a title, he would also have been in the league one year longer than when Michael won his first title. Jordan had two championships at the completion of his eighth season.