Before the 2010-11 season, Mavericks guard Jason Terry tattooed the Larry O'Brien Trophy on his bicep. The tattoo served as motivation for himself and his Dallas teammates to achieve the ultimate goal of winning an NBA title.
Now Dallas is just four wins away from its first championship, and Terry says if they fail to defeat the Miami Heat in this year's Finals, he will have his tattoo removed.
Terry, who calls himself "very superstitious," said that he would consider the tattoo bad luck if the Mavs do not win the title, according to ESPN.com.
Whether or not the tattoo has anything to do with it, something has motivated the Mavericks this season and into the playoffs. They came back from two 10-plus-point deficits against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals en route to their first NBA Finals appearance since 2006.
Terry and Dirk Nowitzki are the only two current Dallas players who played in the 2006 Finals, which the Mavs lost to Dwyane Wade's Heat in six games.
This year's Miami team is coming off a 4-1 series win over the Chicago Bulls, the East's No. 1 seed, and is the favorite heading into the Finals.
"Everybody knows that they're picking Miami to win. We know that," Terry told ESPN.com. "It really doesn't matter to us. We know we're very focused right now. We know what the job is and we know how we have to get it done."
