Jason Terry Backed Up Talk With Performance in Game 4


Everyone shook their heads sadly at Jason Terry’s boasts and promises following Game 3, but it was Jet and the Mavs who had the final chuckle last night as they knotted up the NBA Finals at two games apiece: “Most people collectively laughed when Jason Terry offered up an assortment of garbage/cavalier talk towards LeBron James in between Games 3 and 4. The idea that Jason Terry was going to outscore, or play with, arguably the best one-on-one player in the NBA at any point in this series was laughable. Right? It was. What a joke, and what a dumb thing to say. Jason Terry compared to LeBron James? But there was Jason Terry, doing as he promised and making plays in the fourth quarter of the Mavs’ Game 4 86-83 win against the Heat on Tuesday night. There was Jason Terry, not Dirk Nowitzki, standing on the foul line with six seconds remaining with a chance to put the Mavs up three. And there was LeBron James, all but invisible. A stat line no one thought possible: Terry: 17 points, 3 assists,3 steals in 35 minutes. LeBron James: 8 points,9 rebounds, 7 assists in 45 minutes. ‘I thought Jet took it really upon himself today in the fourth quarter when we were down nine. He made two back-to-back plays to get us right back in the game,’ Nowitzki said. ‘He was phenomenal today.’ Terry did what he said he would do — he stepped up. In the fourth quarter. Of his 17 points, 10 came in the final 12 minutes of the game.”