Clippers' Paul George After Dropping 36 vs. Cavs: 'God Bless You, Jared Dudley'

Los Angeles Clippers star Paul George had a message for Los Angeles Lakers reserve Jared Dudley after George posted 36 points against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.

"God bless you, Jared Dudley," he told reporters. "I don't know what it is, dudes love throwing my name in stuff. But God bless you, Jared."

In his new book, Inside the NBA Bubble: A Championship Season Under Quarantine (h/t Harrison Faigen of SB Nation), Dudley threw shade at George, saying, "It's disrespectful for Paul George, who hasn't won, to put himself on the level of Bron and AD."

"We hear some of those guys talking about how they’re the team to beat in L.A.," Dudley wrote in his book. "It's fine if Kawhi says stuff like that. He's defending a championship. We don't trip if someone like Patrick Beverley is talking trash; that's how he feeds his family. We get it. We respect the hustle."

Dudley wrote that there were Clippers billboards in Los Angeles "with Kawhi Leonard wearing a crown," adding the Lakers didn't like to see that "in our city."

But the billboards' argument fell apart in the postseason, as the Clippers were eliminated in the second round after they let go of a 3-1 series lead to the Denver Nuggets, while the Lakers went on to claim L.A. as their city and the NBA as their league when they won the title over the Miami Heat.

George has never appeared in the NBA Finals, but he has his fair share of success, with six All-Star nods and two consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearances as a member of the Indiana Pacers (2012-14).

Dudley acknowledged George's career but still defended his comments Wednesday.

"My comments were more about how we viewed the motivation," Dudley said, per ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "Paul George is a hell of a player, an MVP candidate. Doesn't mean that what he said wasn't wrong. But the difference is ... how you see how someone like LeBron and AD, them not saying anything. Them saying, 'You know what, we'll find out who the king of L.A. is on the court' last year."

The Clippers have the edge this season, with a 116-109 victory over the Lakers back on Dec. 22, and with one more game than the Lakers under their belt as of Wednesday night, they're one game ahead of the Lakers on the leaderboard, with a 17-6 record to the defending champions' 16-6 campaign.