Jason Terry got a tattoo of the championship trophy before the season

The Dallas Mavericks' run in this postseason has been pretty shocking. Although they came into the playoffs with the No. 3 seed in the West, no one really gave them much of a shot of making the NBA Finals, and several geniuses (myself included) predicted that they'd lose to the Blazers in a first-round upset. Many just assumed that these Mavs had exhausted their potential and were playing out the string of moderate relevance with little chance at ultimate glory.

That's been proven as bunk in each successive series of the West playoffs, a conclusion that reached new highs with Wednesday night's series-clinching win over the Thunder. But the Mavs never lost faith in their own ability to win the championship. That's why, to motivate himself for this season, Jason Terry got a tattoo of the Larry O'Brien Trophy in October. From Calvin Watkins of ESPNDallas.com:

On Oct. 19, 2010 -- a day before a preseason game against the Orlando Magic -- guard DeShawn Stevenson had a get-together for his Mavericks teammates at his house.

Stevenson, who has an offseason home in Orlando, brought his chef and his personal tattoo artist for the players. It was a team-building exercise.

Stevenson's chest, neck and arms are covered with tattoos. He even has a few facial tattoos and two piercings in his chest. But despite all of his tattoos, what he saw teammate Jason Terry do was mind-boggling at the time.

Terry got one placed on his right biceps of the Larry O'Brien Trophy, given to the winner of the NBA championship.

"When he first got the tattoo, I said he was crazy," Stevenson said of the tattoo that is on the inside of Terry's arm. "I didn't say it to him. But I've never been to the [NBA Finals], and for him to have that now. Wow. And he got that tattoo in October, and it means a lot with what we've been through."

You can see the tattoo in the photo above. Getting it was a bold move, but who knows what kind of crazy stuff happens at DeShawn Stevenson's private parties. For all we know, Terry could have just felt he had to match the audacity of DeShawn getting a tattoo of Larry O'Brien (the person, not the trophy) on his behind. Veteran leaders have to set the tone, and sometimes that means supporting teammates when they make terrible decisions.

At any rate, a tattoo like this one could serve as serious motivation to win a championship, because no one wants to have to explain why he has an image of the Larry O'Brien Trophy on his arm when he never actually won it all. If the Mavs can't win it this season, maybe he'll end up stealing the trophy from the Heat or Bulls in the postgame celebration to justify his decision.

Then again, if the Mavs do in fact win, this tattoo will go up there with the most legendary body ink in history, right next to the tattoo Henry V got of Catherine of Valois before the Battle of Agincourt and the one Marisa Tomei had done of the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress before her surprise win for "My Cousin Vinny." That's some mighty impressive company.

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