The smile rarely leaves Jason Terry's grill, but last night was one of those occasions.

Jet was especially grumpy for two reasons: The Mavs lost to a lottery team and he didn’t get to touch the ball with the game on the line.

Informed that coach Rick Carlisle blamed himself for the Mavs’ failure to score on the final two possessions, Terry didn’t exactly disagree.

“I don’t know if it’s lack of execution or play-calling or whatever you want to call it, but we didn’t get the shot we wanted,” said Terry, Dirk Nowitzki's closing sidekick for years. “That’s why we lost.”

His answer when asked what the Mavs were looking for on the last two trips: “Hopefully, they’re looking for me. But that wasn’t the case.”

That’s a lot of swagger for a dude who had as many turnovers as buckets in the loss to the Nets. Terry was 4-of-14 from the floor, including 1-of-5 in the fourth quarter, but he still wanted the rock when it mattered most.

That’s one of the things the Mavs love about their sixth man. He’s annually one of the NBA’s best clutch scorers in part because he has such short-term memory.

Whether he’s lighting it up or stinking it up, Terry craves crunch-time shots. As often as he’s come through over the years, he’s earned the right to grumble when he doesn’t get those opportunities, even if he doesn’t do anything for the first 47 minutes to inspire any confidence.