Jason Terry's big shot motivation

Last night Jason Terry hit a buzzer beating three pointer to give the C's a 48-45 lead at halftime.  With 3:27 to go in the 4th he nailed a big jumper to help fend off OKC's rally, and keep the Boston lead in double digits.  At the 2:28 mark he knocked another 3 that would have extended the Celtics lead to 10, but it was waived off because of a foul away from the ball.  And finally, as the Thunder continued to fight and claw their way back into the game, Terry effectively closed it out with a 3 that put Boston up 8 with just :36 seconds remaining.

Terry says that when he was a sophomore at Franklin High School in Seattle in the early 90s, he took the final shot with the game on the line in the state tournament and missed, ending the careers of many of his teammates on a senior-heavy team. 

Terry has used that missed shot as motivation ever since, as he says the play taught him to be confident, make or miss. 

“My coach always told me, ‘You’ve got big balls to take a shot when you’re the only sophomore on the team and we’ve got all seniors,’” Terry recalled. “It basically ended their careers, but it gave me confidence in mine for the rest of my time.”