Getting it right up front

Griffin and Jordan decisively outplay Pistons counterparts as Clippers roll on road.

CLIPPERS 112 DETROIT 103

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — The size of the Detroit Pistons’ frontcourt didn’t bother the Clippers at all.

In fact, the big-man duo of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan outplayed their Pistons counterparts so impressively on Monday afternoon that the Clippers were able to win fairly easily, 112-103, despite some sloppy play late in the game at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Before the game, there had been speculation about how the 6-foot-10 Griffin and the 6-11 Jordan would fare against Detroit’s 6-11 power forward Greg Monroe and 611 center Andre Drummond. Very well, thank you. Griffin had 25 points on nine-for-16 shooting, five rebounds and five assists in

dominating his position against Monroe, who had only six points and three rebounds.

Jordan had 16 points, a seasonhigh 21 rebounds and four blocked shots to outperform Drummond, who had 15 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks.

“They were awesome,” Clippers Coach Doc Rivers said of Griffin and Jordan. “They held their own against two of the bigger guys in the league, three of the bigger guys when you count Josh [Smith]. And I thought they held their own and bettered it at times.”

“It was definitely a challenge for us,” Griffin said about his and Jordan’s assignment.

The Clippers, who won for the sixth time in seven games, had a 20point lead early in the fourth quarter. The Pistons cut it to nine, but Jordan’s alley-oop dunk with 1 minutes 57 seconds to play ended a 41⁄ 2- minute scoring drought by the Clippers and turned the momentum back in their favor, giving them an 11-point lead.

Then Griffin made a steal with 1:15 left, leading to a three-pointer by Jamal Crawford (26 points) that sealed the victory.

Earlier, Jordan had the play of the game when he ran downcourt in the third quarter, grabbed a high-arching lob pass from J.J. Redick and threw down a dunk that started with his elbow above the rim.

“We knew we had to bring it. Both of those guys are loads down there,” said Jordan, who came within one rebound of his career high but missed all six of his free throws. “We knew we would have our hands full because we were going to have to match their physicality. I think overall we did a pretty good job.”

Redick, playing despite a bruised left knee, scored 20 points on five-for-nine shooting, made three of five three-point attempts and had a season-high six assists.

Redick was fouled three times while attempting three-point shots, two of which he made and turned into four-point plays by making the free throws.

Five Clippers scored in double figures Monday and the team shot a season-high 65.7% in the first half.

Rivers shuffled his starting lineup, with Matt Barnes starting at small forward in place of the struggling Jared Dudley. Barnes finished with 10 points and five rebounds.

The only starter who didn’t score in double figures was Darren Collison (four points), who played despite a sprained left big toe.