On the Smoking Drugs Is Cool podcast with Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes, Paul George told the hosts it was Doc Rivers who told him to hit the side of the backboard with his three-point attempt.

“So it was game seven, right?  And in the huddle, I asked my teammates if they remembered that Gatorade commercial where I hit the game-winner,” Paul George told the hosts.  “I said, I spent all day trying to make the game-winner, and the filming crew eventually used CGI effects for the made basket, but that day gave me a bunch of experience.  So I told them, ‘Just pass ol’ Playoff P the rock and stand back.’”

But as the play unfolded, the warning to stand back turned out to be prophetic.  George’s three-point attempt smacked off the side of the backboard so hard, it sent shrapnel and glass spraying everywhere.  Many in the gym screamed for their lives.  Teammate Landry Shamet, fearing George’s shot had structurally compromised the facility, penned a quick love letter to his wife in case the gym collapsed. 

“Yeah, dog.  That shot was so bad even I remember that s***,” Stephen Jackson said, while cutting up neat lines with a credit card. 

“Nah, man,  I was going to make that three!” Paul George said, leaning forward in his chair.  “It was Doc Rivers who drew that play up!”

“Oh, word?” Barnes asked.

“Yeah, bro!  Doc pulled me aside and said, ‘PG, the whole world is expecting you to hit the big shot.  Let’s get Denver second-guessing everything.  Not just on the court, but about the universe itself,”  George said.

Update:  Doc Rivers has said it was not he who caused Paul George to miss that shot.  “It was the refs!” he yelled in his raspy voice.