Jason Terry erases bitterness, keeps ink

The Larry O'Brien Trophy tattoo on the inside of Jason Terry's right arm, the one that launched so many big shots in these NBA Finals, can stay.

The motor-mouth sixth man helped make sure he didn't have to live up to his vow to get that tattoo removed if his Dallas Mavericks didn't earn the real trophy. For Terry, it's the memories of the Finals failure from five years ago that can finally fade away.

For five years, his mornings often began with thoughts of the 3-pointer he missed that could have sent that Game 6 to overtime. He frequently flashed back to the Miami Heat celebrating on his home floor when he stepped onto the American Airlines Center court.

Not anymore. Not after Terry sipped champagne in Miami's AmericanAirlines Arena after a spectacular shooting performance that keyed the 105-95 closeout win Sunday night over the Heat.

"It was not our motivating factor going in," Terry said of the awful '06 experience. "But now that we have done it, you can say it was sweet vindication."

Terry's stroke was pretty sweet, too.

Five years after a 7-of-25 performance in a Finals finale, Terry carried the Mavericks offensively in the ultimate elimination game, especially while Nowitzki waited for his jumper to arrive in Miami. Terry scored 19 of his game-high 27 points during the first half, allowing the Mavs to lead despite Dirk missing 11 of 12 shots from the floor before the break.

"Was he unbelievable tonight or what?" Nowitzki said.

"It wasn't about carrying the team," said Terry, who matched San Antonio's Manu Ginobili for the most points scored off the bench in a title-clinching win. "It was doing my job. My job is to come in and provide a spark, make plays, make shots. I did my job."

"Jet had to take all that criticism," said owner Mark Cuban, who reminded that Terry dealt with the pressure of being the player the Mavs acquired to replace Steve Nash and the scapegoat of the playoff loss to Nash's Suns the next season. "The media was killing him: 'He can't perform in the playoffs. He's not clutch in the playoffs. He's too this, he's too that.'

"He shoved it up everybody's ass."