WALTHAMFor all those down-to-the-wire, clutch shots you see, there's usually someone the camera never pans on who made it possible.
That would be the screener, whose popularity is right up there with a pulling guard in football.
While the goal of screening is essentially the same - to free up a shooter - how it's done and for whom varies from team to team.
Look no further than Boston's Jason Terry, a 14-year NBA veteran who spent the bulk of his career knocking down shots - and setting up shots as a screener - for Dirk Nowitzki in Dallas.
Terry acknowledges that setting screens in Boston is, well, different.
"I come from a system where the majority of the time, the ball-handler was to get the guy setting the pick the ball," Terry said. "Here, these guys are trying to get the ball-handler open and get him opportunities and then it frees up other guys."
Said C's coach Doc Rivers: "He played with Dirk Nowitzki. No matter what you do, it's going to be different. There's nobody here like that, that's going to be popping behind the 3 (point line)."
That's just one of the many adjustments that Terry is looking to improve upon after a disappointing start to the season both for him and the Celtics.
Boston has lost two of its first three games, and Terry hasn't had nearly the kind of impact that he was expecting.
In three games, he's averaging 8.7 points per game. Terry has averaged double digits scoring in all but his rookie season in which he averaged 8.1 with the Atlanta Hawks.
Terry's problem is pretty simple.
He's not making shots.
A career 44.8 percent shooter, Terry is connecting on just 38.1 percent of his shots - a career low. One of the NBA's all-time great 3-point shooters, he's only knocking down 28.6 percent of his 3s which is also a career-worst for him.
But with the season so young and Terry always seeing the upside to situations, he remains confident that both he and the Celtics will only get better as the season goes on.
"It's a work in progress. I'm going to stay optimistic. I'm a scorer; I'll figure it out," Terry said. "Believe me when I tell you, I will continue to shoot the ball. I will take advantage of every opportunity."