Terry, Mavs have what it takes. LeBron? Not so much.

Jason Terry brought "The Jet" out of the hanger during last night's Game 5, a 112-103 

Mavericks victory. Dallas leads the series 3-2, as it heads back to Miami.

The Miami Heat may have three superstars, but the Dallas Mavericks possess an even more valuable commodity -- fourth-quarter closers.

The Mavericks once again showed their championship grit last night, as the triumvirate of Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and Jason Kidd delivered a host of clutch baskets down the stretch of a rousing 112-103 victory in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

Terry and Co. closed out the game with a 17-4 run, which included his cold-blooded 3-pointer over LeBron James to put the Mavs up 108-101. Terry, who scored eight points in the final frame, poured in 21 points in 30 minutes of work. Nowitzki scored a game-high 29, including eight in the fourth quarter.

With 10:02 remaining Dallas led 90-83, but soon found itself down by four points after an explosive 16-5 Heat run at the 4:37 mark. At the time, I tweeted that Miami was making its move and that it was "winning time."

Little did I know that it was Dallas that would be making its move, not Miami. The Mavericks countered with yet another fourth quarter surge, scoring 17 of the last 21 points to move one win away from their first NBA Championship.

Trailing 100-97, Terry knocked down the first of his two fourth-quarter triples. Following a LeBron James miss, Terry then found Nowitzki streaking along the baseline past Chris Bosh for a two-handed slam that electrified the crowd.

The bucket not only energized the fans, but it gave the Mavs a lead they would not relinquish. And after scoring zero points in a Game 4 win, Kidd followed suit with a huge 3-pointer with 1:25 remaining.  

(I'm a big Jason Kidd fan but earlier in the game I told my dad that the 38-year-old Kidd just can't shoot the ball like he used to. Then again, Kidd, like Terry and Nowitzki, is a gamer).

So while Terry was swishing 3-point daggers and doing the Jet; and while Dirk was being Dirk; and while Kidd was proving the Old Man has a little left in that tank of his -- where was LeBron?

.

He was pulling what's becoming his customary fourth-quarter Houdini act and disappearing in crunch time. Despite four assists, LeBron had only two points (1-4 shooting) in the fourth quarter -- the fourth game in a row The King has scored two points or less in the final stanza

Sure, he had a triple-double (17 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists), but just two points in the most critical phase of the game just isn't going to cut it. In fact, James has only 11 points TOTAL in five fourth quarters this series.

LeBron James' fourth-quarter struggles continued in Game 5. 

But to focus solely on LeBron's enigmatic struggles in the fourth quarter of games, is to sell the Mavericks short. Take Terry for instance. After going 0-4 in the fourth quarter of a Game 3 loss, Terry took some criticism from a Nowitzki desperately searching for some offensive assistance.

But instead of ripping Dirk or deflecting the comments, what did Terry do? He called out the man who had shut him down -- LeBron James.

"Let's see if [James] can defend me like that for seven games," he said.

It turns out Terry may have been right to question whether LeBron could hang with him for seven games, because the self-proclaimed "Jet" is flying way above James right now. Terry backed up his remarks with 17 points in Game 4 and perhaps his gutsiest shooting performance of his career last night.

But Terry's comments shouldn't be chalked up as mere trash talk. No, they carry far more weight. Terry's brash proclamation and how he's responded are emblematic of Dallas' ability to rise to the occasion as a team in these NBA Finals -- something LeBron hasn't been able to do.

So while the Heat live and die with their three superstars, the Mavericks will continue to rely on a less tangible asset -- guts.

Just watch the 180-pound Jason Terry do his thing in the fourth quarter, you'll see what I'm talking about.