All the pressure was on Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Terry entering Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
But let's not say the pressure has "been put on him" as though he had nothing to do with it - the Franklin High School alumnus has done quite a bit to bring it upon himself.
After agreeing with Dirk Nowitzki that he hadn't "really been a a crunch-time, clutch player" after Game 3, suggesting that Miami Heat forward LeBron James' talents couldn't hold him for seven games, and then - although a lesser offense - suggesting a threshold at which the Heat would be unable to beat them.
You can neither call this stuff bulletin board material nor media scrutiny - this is Terry at his finest lapping up all the media spotlight he can get.
And that's not to mention participating in his own video this April proclaiming him(self) "Mr. Fourth Quarter."
So by his own standards, when he came up big in the fourth quarter of the Mavs' 86-83 Game 4 NBA Finals tonight, he was just doing what Mr. Fourth Quarter is supposed to do.
"You have three of us: [Nowitzki], myself, [Jason] Kidd," Terry said after scoring 17 points and tying for a game-high three steals. "Any one of us at the end of the game in those type of situations, we're looking for the moment."
In keeping with the Mr. Fourth Quarter label he embraced, Terry seized the moment tonight. With Nowitzki sick with a fever, it was Terry who came up big, as Tony Mejia of Pro Basketball News described.
PBN | Gutting it out
Jason Terry, who helped seal the game at the free-throw line with a pair of huge makes that forced the Heat to need a 3-pointer to tie the game at the buzzer, backed up his boasting by really pulling through down the stretch when his team needed him most. Credit him for taking responsibility for his shortcomings in fourth quarters and being clutch when the moment was the most daunting.
It wasn't even just that he hit the clutch free throws, but how he got there - by having the presence of mind to wait a moment to allow the ball to run into the backcourt, Terry allowed extra time to run off the clock, which became significant as Miami botched their final play.
Mr. Fourth Quarter, ladies and gentlemen - that's what he does.