BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- The Los Angeles Clippers made history on Saturday night with a 105-100 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, their first at Barclays Center.

But the Clippers nearly repeated history when their 18-point lead was sliced to two three times in the fourth quarter.

However, unlike a 102-100 loss on Feb. 2, 2015, in which the Clippers blew a nine-point lead with 94 seconds left, Los Angeles finished the job this time.

"We've been having big issues with closing out games this year," Clippers guard Chris Paul said. "We had leads on teams and let them back in it. It's a negative in that we're still letting teams back in the game, but it's a positive in that we were able to close it out."

Paul (15 points, 14 assists) and forward Blake Griffin (21 points, nine rebounds) were huge contributors late in the game to extend the Clippers' lead each time the Nets made a push.

"Down the stretch, me and Blake I think worked our two-man game to perfection," Paul said. "That's something that we just have to keep working on."

Griffin's elbow jumper with 49 seconds put the Clippers in front 101-95.

"If I can get to the rim, I'll always try to be aggressive and attack, but that shot was open," Griffin said. "It's a shot that I work on every single day."

The Clippers (14-10), whose only other road win against the Nets came in East Rutherford, N.J. on Dec. 11, 2007, went inside early, with center DeAndre Jordan and Griffin wowing the crowd with thunderous dunks and alley-oops.

Jordan had 12 points and 12 boards for his 13th points-rebounds double-double of the season (tied for second in the NBA), but it was his energy defensively that sparked the Clippers.

"He's definitely our anchor and I think we rely on him, meaning the other four guys on the court, to be the helper, the rebounder and the voice of our defense," guard J.J. Redick said of Jordan. "He's been great lately."

After making just 2 of 11 shots from the field in an 83-80 loss on Thursday in Chicago, Redick bounced back to scorch the Nets for 21 points, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range.

"It's funny, the guy who shoots the best still practices more than everybody else, which I always couldn't figure out because you would think everybody else would do more," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. "But J.J. takes the most shots, he works the most on his shots, so he knows even on bad nights it's going to come back."

Forward Paul Pierce torched his former team with eight of his 10 points off the bench in the first half, including back-to-back 3-pointers to give Los Angeles a 42-26 lead, its largest of the first half.

The lead ballooned to 18 on a 22-foot jumper by forward Josh Smith with 10:07 left, but the Nets (7-16) roared back.

"Maybe we take the lead and control the game, but I'm proud of our guys -- how they battled, how they competed," Nets coach Lionel Hollins said. "You know, it's just disappointing that we couldn't come all the way back and get this win."

Forward Thaddeus Young had 18 points, guard Jarrett Jack had 16 points, 11 assists and five rebounds, guard Bojan Bogdanovic and forward Joe Johnson scored 15 points apiece, and center Brook Lopez added 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Nets, who won six of their last seven games at home.

"I guess the energy wasn't really there up to a point," Lopez said. "We may have made the run too late, but we stuck with it, we never really let it get away from us and the guys at the end of the game did a fantastic job of closing that gap."

But there was no deja vu down the stretch.

The Clippers head to Detroit with a 3-1 record on their five-game road trip.

"It's been a good trip," Griffin said. "We haven't played great at times, but 3-1, that's a major positive. We just want to finish up strong."

NOTES: The game was a homecoming for Clippers F Lance Stephenson, a Brooklyn native who played at Lincoln HS in Coney Island. Clippers coach Doc Rivers was asked if he was concerned about Stephenson's emotions playing in his hometown. "Listen, he had a big hat on today so I don't know what that means," Rivers said. "Maybe he's going to be a cowboy, who knows? It's good. We need his energy. His energy is good for our team. I hope be brings positive energy tonight." ... Rivers was a little confused about the rather unique 5 p.m. ET start time. Initially he said he thought it was 5 p.m. on the west coast, but was told a few days ago that wasn't the case. "I'm not used to it, but it's kind of nice because you can go to dinner after a game," Rivers said. "That's nice." ... Out for Brooklyn are G Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (fractured right ankle) and F Chris McCullough (right knee rehab). ... The Nets continue a six-game homestand against Orlando on Monday.