Jason Terry never has hesitated to speak his mind. Anyone in New York who didn’t know about Terry’s willingness to make provocative statements quickly learned this summer as the new Nets guard has gone back-and-forth with Knicks guard J.R. Smith.
But for Terry, who was acquired from the Celtics along with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, the trash talk isn’t meant to be anything personal. Instead, it’s simply part of his repertoire to get inside the head of his opponent.
“For me, I just think it’s a part of the game,” Terry said at a community event Tuesday. “I just watched my best friend, Gary Payton, go into the Hall of Fame, so I learned from the best as far as trash-talking and trying to get under the opponents’ skin.
“But it’s all in fun. I mean, none of this translates into fighting or anything like that. It’s more like a competitive edge, a sort of a competitive spirit I like to call it. I’m one of the guys, myself, KG, that if you allow us to get underneath you, we’ll be there all night.”
Terry has engaged with the back-and-forth with Smith about which team is New York’s best. But the Nets have made it clear they have bigger goals than being the best team inside the five boroughs. Terry said winning a championship is the ultimate goal, and to get there the Nets first have to win the Atlantic Division title, which would mean dethroning the defending champion Knicks.
“Well, for us, it’s line them up,” Terry said. “Whoever you put out in front of us, we want to beat them. Our goal is to win a championship, and we want to take it step by step. First thing is you have to win your division. You win your division and that positions you for home-court advantage, and then you just take it round by round.
“We understand that, and we understand it’s going to be a long season. It just so happens that we have to play them four times, and they’re just a few blocks away from us, so that’s going to be an intense rivalry. But for guys like myself, Kevin and Paul, who have been in this league for so long, almost any given night is a rivalry for us. You’ve got Chicago, San Antonio, when I go back to Dallas, Boston? Are you kidding me? Every game is going to be intense, and we’re just excited and ready for the challenge.”
Though it all may be in fun, Terry couldn’t resist taking another shot at the Knicks while discussing why he chose to live in New Jersey, near the Nets’ practice facility, instead of somewhere in the city.
“I’m staying on the Jersey side,” he said, before adding with a smile, “I didn’t want to get too close to the Knicks. I wanted to be over on that side, focused and next to the practice facility, and then on game days we’ll make our way over here.”