Sunday, June 12, 2011

Who is Jason Eugene Terry?

Who is Jason Eugene Terry? The professional basketball world knows Jason Terry as an American professional basketball player playing with the NBA's Dallas Mavericks. He plays shooting guard, although he also can play point guard. His nickname, "JET," derives from his initials.^[1] Terry won an NBA Championship in 2011 when the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Miami Heat in six games on June 12, 2011.

Early life

Jason was born September 15, 1977 in Seattle, Washington. He was one of ten children raised by his mother, Andrea Cheatham and his father, Curtis Terry.^[1] One of his brothers, Curtis, plays college basketball for UNLV. On February 2, 2007 Terry's number (31) was retired at [[Franklin High School (Washington)|Franklin High School].^[2]

College career

In 1997, Terry won an NCAA Championship with the University of Arizona. His teammates included Mike Bibby, Michael Dickerson, and Miles Simon.^[3] Terry has announced that he would like to be an assistant coach with his old college basketball team once he retires from playing in the NBA.

NBA

Terry was drafted out of the University of Arizona by the Atlanta Hawks in the 1999 NBA Draft as the 10th overall selection. In the 2000–01 season, Terry emerged as the team's best player, averaging 19.7 points and leading the club in steals, assists and free throws made. He played 3,089 minutes. After spending his first five seasons with the Hawks, Terry was traded to the Mavericks just prior to the start of the 2004–05 season. He had a mediocre first few months with the Mavericks but eventually came into his own, putting up solid numbers and by the end of the season earning his spot as the Mavs' number one guard.
In the 2004–05 NBA Playoffs, Terry averaged 17.5 points on 51% shooting while hitting 49% from three-point range in his first playoff run. Yet his team failed to advance to the conference finals, losing its second-round series 4–2 to Nash's Phoenix Suns. In Game 6 of that series Terry got in a confrontation with teammate Dirk Nowitzki, who was frustrated by his own erratic play during the playoffs, for committing the crucial error of backing off of Steve Nash in the final seconds of regulation with his team up by 3, who subsequently hit the 3-point shot to send the game into overtime resulting eventually in the ousting of the Mavericks from the playoffs.
In the final seconds of Game 5 of the 2005–06 NBA Western Conference playoff semi-finals against the San Antonio Spurs, Terry in closeups was shown punching opposing guard and former teammate Michael Finley in the groin. On May 18, 2006, Terry was suspended without pay from Game 6. Despite losing that game, the Mavericks were able to close out the series in Game 7 to advance to the Western Conference Finals. In Game 6 of the 2006 NBA Finals, Terry shot 7 for 25 from the field and 2 for 11 from three-point territory as the cold shooting Mavericks were eliminated in 6 games by the Miami Heat.
On July 1, 2006, after spending only 12 hours on the free-agent market, Terry agreed to a 6-year contract to stay with the Dallas Mavericks.^[4]
Terry won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2009
On May 8, 2011, in a playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Terry tied an NBA playoff record with nine made three pointers. He joined Rex Chapman, Vince Carter, and Ray Allen in achieving this record. Terry missed only one of the three point field goals he attempted.^[5] He finished the game 10 of 14 with 32 points.^[6]

Playing style

On offense, Terry relies mainly on his shooting skills and speed. He is regarded as one of the fastest players in the league, and is an elite three-point shooter. He often pulls up for jump shots off the dribble, making him difficult to guard. He is known as a very streaky player, as his shooting accuracy can change dramatically from game to game. On defense, he is an average on-ball defender, but has great ability to come up with steals which leads to many easy fast break points.

Personal life

Terry and his wife, Johnyika, have four daughters; Jasionna, Jalayah, Jaida and Jasa Azuré.^[7] His younger sister, Lyric, used to live with them in Dallas.^[8]

Terry has the number 206 tattooed on his chest, the area code of Seattle, his hometown. He also has a tattoo of Underdog.^[8]
Terry is the cousin of Minnesota Timberwolves forward Martell Webster.

International career
Terry was a member of the United States squad for the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia.

NBA championship,

Dallas Mavericks win there first NBA Championship when they close out LeBron James, Miami Heat in Game 6,Dirk Nowitzki was named MVP.

NBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

[edit] Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1999–00	Atlanta	81	27	23.3	.415	.293	.807	2.0	4.3	1.1	.1	8.1
2000–01	Atlanta	82	77	37.7	.436	.395	.846	3.3	4.9	1.3	.2	19.7
2001–02	Atlanta	78	78	38.0	.430	.387	.835	3.5	5.7	1.9	.2	19.3
2002–03	Atlanta	81	81	38.0	.428	.371	.887	3.4	7.4	1.6	.2	17.2
2003–04	Atlanta	81	78	37.3	.417	.347	.827	4.1	5.4	1.5	.2	16.8
2004–05	Dallas	80	57	30.0	.501	.420	.844	2.4	5.4	1.4	.2	12.4
2005–06	Dallas	80	80	35.0	.470	.411	.800	2.0	3.8	1.2	.3	17.1
2006–07	Dallas	81	80	35.1	.484	.438	.804	2.9	5.2	1.0	.2	16.7
2007–08	Dallas	82	34	31.5	.467	.375	.857	2.5	3.2	1.1	.2	15.5
2008–09	Dallas	74	11	33.7	.463	.366	.880	2.4	3.4	1.3	.3	19.6
2009–10	Dallas	77	12	33.0	.438	.365	.866	1.8	3.8	1.2	.2	16.6
2010–11	Dallas	82	10	31.3	.451	.362	.850	1.9	4.1	1.1	.2	15.8
Career		959	625	33.6	.449	.380	.845	2.7	4.7	1.3	.2	16.2

[edit] Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2005	Dallas	13	13	38.5	.506	.491	.884	4.2	4.6	1.3	.5	17.5
2006	Dallas	22	22	38.4	.442	.307	.831	2.9	3.8	1.2	.1	18.9
2007	Dallas	6	6	38.2	.424	.281	.833	2.3	3.7	.8	.3	17.0
2008	Dallas	5	3	36.0	.433	.438	.867	1.6	4.8	.4	.2	15.8
2009	Dallas	10	1	32.5	.389	.373	.767	2.8	1.9	.6	.3	14.3
2010	Dallas	6	0	29.0	.377	.400	.750	2.5	2.0	.7	.2	12.7
2011	Dallas	20	0	32.5	.464	.443	.861	1.9	3.3	1.2	.2	17.1
Career		82	45	35.4	.444	.388	.838	2.7	3.5	1.0	.2	16.9