National Basketball Association

Terry won't keep tattoo if Mavs lose

Published May. 29, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

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Dallas guard Jason Terry said Sunday he will get a tattoo of the NBA championship trophy removed from his biceps if the Mavericks do not win the title against the Miami Heat, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Terry got inked in October, by the personal tattoo artist of fellow Maverick DeShawn Stevenson, as motivation for his teammates.

As the team departed Dallas for Tuesday's Game 1 of the NBA Finals in Miami, Terry said he would have no choice but to erase the artwork if the Heat won the trophy because it "means it was bad luck."

"I'm very superstitious," he said. "I definitely know it's going to hurt worse if I have to take this thing off."

Explaining why he got the tattoo in the first place, Terry said, "It symbolized the fact we had a realistic shot of getting there. If I didn't think we had a chance, I definitely wouldn't have put that on there ... it's something I have to sleep with, something I wake up with."

The Mavs are making their second finals appearance; the first came in 2006, when they lost to the Heat in six games.