Jason Terry still coming up clutch

On the biggest basketball stage, Jason Terry looks so very familiar.

After all these years, the skinny kid from Franklin High who wore knee high socks, a titled head band in homage to childhood hero Slick Watts and a No. 31 jersey hasn't changed.

He's still so superstitious that it borders on the bizarre.

He still talks trash like his other hometown hoops idol, Gary Payton.

And he still has the uncanny knack to knock down big baskets.

Terry's clutch fourth-quarter performance in the past two games of the NBA Finals has given the Dallas Mavericks a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series and pushed the star-studded Miami Heat to the brink of elimination.

With a Game 6 victory today in South Florida, Dallas wins its first NBA title while Terry reprises a role that led to an NCAA tournament championship 14 years ago.

"What he's doing now, it's the same thing he's been doing his entire career," said Michael Dickerson, who teamed with Terry for three seasons at Arizona. "He's always been great at the reserve role.

"He's a perfect player to come off the bench and hit big baskets. He works really well under pressure. He likes the attention that he's getting right now and he knows how to thrive in this environment. He's a big-time shooter in pressure situations."

Dickerson was Terry's Dirk Nowitzki at Arizona.

The former Federal Way High star was a volume shooter and the leading scorer on the Wildcats teams that won the 1997 NCAA tournament and advanced to the Elite Eight in '98.

While Dickerson drew double-teams, Terry came off the bench and punched holes in the defense with pinpoint perimeter shooting.

"You could say his role is more difficult because he doesn't get the same amount of minutes or half as many shots as Dirk, but he still has to produce," Dickerson said. "Every shot he takes, especially in the fourth quarter, its going to be dissected make or miss."

In the first three games of the Finals, Terry, a 6-foot-2 guard, didn't score with LeBron James, a 6-8 forward, defending him. His disappearing act in the fourth quarter of Dallas' Game 1 and 3 defeats prompted critics to question if Terry was wilting under the pressure.

Terry, 32, dismissed the concern. He doubted if the 26-year-old James could continue the dominant defense and vowed to make an impact in the series.

It seemed like a foolish thing to say at the time, but those who know Terry said he was being true to himself.

"That's Jason," said Aaron Brooks, the Phoenix Suns guard and former Franklin High star. "He says what he feels. I think sometimes he intentionally puts stuff out there because he knows now he's got to go out and back it up."

In the past two games both Dallas wins Terry is 5 of 10 from the floor and 2 of 4 on three-pointers in the fourth quarter. He has scored eight points in each of the last two fourth quarters, outscoring James 16-2.

In a 21-point virtuoso Game 5 performance, Terry dished out two assists in the final three minutes, which were crushing blows in Dallas' victory.

He also sank a three-pointer with 3:23 remaining that tied the score at 100 and drilled a trey over the outstretched hands of James with 33.3 seconds remaining for a seven-point lead in the 112-103 victory.

"If there's space, I'm going to let it fly," Terry said after the game. "The clock was winding down. It's just like being out there on the playground back home in Seattle. Emulating your idols in the Finals (with the) game on the line. Raise up, knock it down."

It took several years for Terry to find his niche in the NBA.

Miscast as a pass-first guard when Atlanta took him 10th overall in the 1999 draft, he failed to make the playoffs during five seasons with the Hawks.

Atlanta dealt him to Dallas in 2004 to replace Steve Nash, who left for Phoenix.

Terry was overjoyed to join a perennial playoff contender, but it took time to make Mavs fans forget about Nash, the two-time league MVP.

Just when Terry settled into the co-starring role alongside Nowitzki, Dallas signed future Hall of Famer Jason Kidd midway through the 2007-08 season and promoted J.J. Barea to backup point guard.

The moves pushed Terry to the bench as an off-guard.

Rather than sulk, he embraced change.

He won the 2009 Sixth Man of the Year award and became a fan favorite in Dallas. He is known as Jet, which is short for Jason Eugene Terry.

"With a great player like Dirk everybody wants to try to find who the No. 2 scorer is," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said after Game 5. "Jet is a great scorer."

He's a great shooter and he's a great player. He's a terrific all-around player."

In his 12th NBA season, Terry realizes he's approaching the fourth quarter of a basketball journey that has included two state championships in 1994-95 and an NCAA tournament title.

There's just one glaring omission from an otherwise brilliant basketball resume: an NBA ring.

Back in 2006, Terry came close to winning a championship with Dallas. The Mavericks led 2-0 before losing four consecutive games to Dwyane Wade and Miami.

"I remember getting hit in the head with confetti, watching them celebrate, ride off on golf carts, champagne bottles and all that," said Terry who along with Nowitzki are the only holdovers from that Mavs team. "I remember being back in our locker room, myself and Darrell Armstrong holding each other and just crying the night away.

"Something I'll never forget."

Terry, who has Seattle's 206 area code inked across his chest, was so confident the Mavs have enough to win a title this season he had the Larry O'Brien championship trophy tattooed on the inside of his right biceps in October.

He said he'll remove the tattoo if Dallas fails to win the title.

"It's all about this moment right here," Terry said. "Knowing that you may not have another opportunity to be in this position again."

Note

• Oklahoma City Thunder guard Nate Robinson, the former Rainier Beach and UW star, apologized to fans after police caught him urinating in public in White Plains, a New York City suburb. White Plains police say an officer spotted Robinson urinating on a sidewalk outside a bookstore just before 2 a.m. Friday.

Authorities told reporters that Robinson was taken to police headquarters, issued a summons and ordered to show up in court June 22. The offense normally carries a $50 fine.

Robinson posted a message on Twitter on Friday saying he made a "silly mistake." He promised it wouldn't happen again.

Thunder spokesman Brian Facchini says the team is aware of what happened but would have no comment.