Clippers March Through Pistons : Pro basketball: They win at Detroit, 97-81, and finish month with 12 victories.

Another game, another plateau.

The Clippers scaled the 40-victory barrier for the first time since 1978-79 and tied the franchise record with 12 victories in a month Tuesday night by beating the Detroit Pistons, 97-81, at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

They did it by scoring 29 points in the fourth quarter against the Pistons, still the stingiest defensive team in the league. This was the Clippers’ first victory here since Feb. 3, 1983--and first ever at the Palace--and it snapped a streak of eight consecutive road losses against Detroit. It was the first sweep of the two-game season series against the Pistons since 1979-80.

James Edwards, around for Detroit’s rise as a starter on back-to-back NBA championship teams, stopped by for a glimpse of the fall with his new team.

“They (the Pistons) are not as solid on defense as they were in the past,” said Edwards, greeted warmly in his first visit since being traded to the Clippers last summer. “They’re not helping out as much as in the past. Basically, we could have run anything we wanted to.”

The only thing commonplace was that the Clippers shot very well (again) and had a double-digit road victory (again).

Coach Larry Brown would qualify the latter, saying the margin increased against the Piston reserves, but the Clippers led by 14 points with 5:30 to play when it was still starter vs. starter. The 16-point victory followed those of 31 points at Dallas, 13 at Phoenix and 27 at Denver.

The shooting was even more impressive, as usual. Welcome to the Clipper hit parade:

--March 18 at Dallas, they shot 55% from the field.

--March 20 at Phoenix, they shot 55.3%.

--March 21 at Denver, they shot 54.4%.

--March 26 against Houston at the Sports Arena, they shot 48.9%.

--March 28 against Milwaukee at the Sports Arena, they shot 54.5%.

--Tuesday, against a Detroit team that came in allowing 45.3%, third-best in the league, they shot 52.5.%

The six-game total is 261 for 489, or 53.4%.

The Clippers have won 13 of 17 and 21 of 29 overall, four in a row and seven of 10 on the road. At 40-32, they head to Cleveland, Chicago, Milwaukee and Minnesota before finishing with four of the last six games of the regular season at home and one other at the Forum.

“We knew this would be the biggest game of the trip because it was the start,” said Charles Smith, who led the Clippers with 19 points and a personal-best five steals.

The Clippers played without Ken Norman, who suffered a back injury at the morning shoot-around and was declared out about 15 minutes before the game. Loy Vaught moved into the starting lineup for the first time since Feb. 25 and responded with a team-high 10 rebounds.

The Clippers seemed fazed only at the start, feeling good about a 45-43 lead at halftime, despite 12 turnovers and shooting only four free throws to the Pistons’ 13. But they excelled when it mattered, in the fourth quarter.

The Pistons have lost six of their last eight and dropped half a game behind Boston in the race for the fourth spot, and home-court advantage for the first round, in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The loss was their 15th at home, the most since 1984-85 at the Silverdome.

“I can’t explain it,” Isiah Thomas said. “I wish I could, but I can’t. I can’t figure it out. I don’t know if we’ve packed it in. I haven’t. It’s like a teacher who gave me a test and I got an ‘F.’ She asks me about the test, but I can’t answer her because I don’t understand the test. That’s what our season is like.”

The Clippers are handling big exams like simple pop quizzes. They kept pace, half a game behind Seattle, which won Tuesday, for the No. 6 spot in the Western Conference and moved within two games of idle San Antonio for No. 5.

Clipper Notes

James Edwards, admittedly battling some butterflies, finished with 10 points in 29 minutes after being greeted by an ovation during pregame introductions. “It was very emotional playing against those guys in the Palace,” he said. “I spent four years here. But I had fun out there.” . . . With the Clippers off until Thursday at Cleveland, Ken Norman is listed as day to day. . . . Detroit’s John Salley, on the Clippers: “A brand new team. Maybe when my deal’s up, I can go out there.”

This was the Pistons’ worst regular-season home loss since Nov. 23, 1988. . . . The Clippers also won 12 games in November of 1974, when they were then known as the Buffalo Braves. . . . Detroit has failed to score 100 points in 37 games, more than any team.