The Nets didn’t have the “Big 3” intact Friday night, but they made plenty of big 3s.

After the Pistons somehow withstood a breathtaking 3-point barrage at the start of the fourth quarter in Detroit, Jeff Green delivered a dagger from the corner with 58 seconds to play for the Nets to create separation from the worst team in the Eastern Conference.

James Harden’s 44 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists, Blake Griffin’s 17 points and the Nets’ 13 trifectas were just enough to send the Pistons to a 113-11 defeat. Actually, they also needed a defensive stop on the final possession: The Pistons didn’t get off a shot under the basket before the buzzer because of tough defense by Nic Claxton.

“We got the win,” coach Steve Nash said, “but we don’t feel good about it.”

The Nets — described by Nash as “sloppy” — essentially won the game three times.

“We gave them opportunity after opportunity,” Harden said. “They just gained confidence.”

First, the Nets built a 13-point first-half lead. Second, after it disintegrated into a back-and-fourth game near the end of the third quarter, the 3s started raining. The Nets scored 18 of 19 points over a four-minute span from behind the arc.

Fighting through the neck soreness “and a banged-up knee” that caused him to miss Wednesday’s loss at Utah, Harden drained his patented step-back-hop 3-pointer in Hamidou Diallo’s face with less than a second remaining in the third quarter to open up an 82-78 lead. The hot hand continued through the break and the lead grew with these 3s: Griffin (85-82), Harden (88-82), Harden (92-82), Tyler Johnson (95-84) and Johnson (98-87).

Still not enough.

The Pistons (12-32) tied the score at 106-106 with 2:19 to go, but Saddiq Bey missed the potential go-ahead free throw. Harden responded with a three-point play and the Pistons never recovered, with Green’s 3 opening up a 112-107 lead.

“Just felt like Detroit wanted it more than we did too often,” Nash said. “This is part of the process. We’re going to face other teams similar to them coming up who have nothing to lose and are going to see a target on us and we’ve got to be prepared to match their energy.”

For the first time in his three games since joining the Nets on March 8, Griffin looked like much more than a role player on a minimum salary. With Kevin Durant (hamstring strain) and Kyrie Irving (personal reasons) out, Griffin and Harden formed a “Big 2.”

The Pistons, Griffin’s former team, woke him up by trying to push him around. He and Isaiah Stewart got tangled up underneath the basket at the end of several first-half possessions and it boiled over when Stewart elbowed Griffin in the jaw. Stewart was ejected with a flagrant 2 foul. The teams were whistled for six combined technical fouls.

Diallo later was called for a technical for knocking Griffin off his spot as they ran down the floor.

“They are a hard-playing team,” Griffin said. “I don’t know if you expect to get elbowed, but I knew it was going to be chippy. But that stuff doesn’t bother me. It’s part of the game.”

Griffin already was an expert in revenge games, having blown off a handshake from Clippers owner Steve Ballmer before collecting 44 points on Jan. 12, 2019. That was the only other time he made an initial trip to face a former team in an arena he previously called home.

This time it was Harden with the 44, his third 40-point game since coming to the Nets in January.

Jerami Grant, who scored 19 after averaging 27 points in the first two meetings between the teams, and Frank Jackson kept the Pistons alive. Jackson scored 14 in the fourth after not playing in the first three quarters. But, in the final seconds, the ball went to Cory Joseph, who couldn’t convert.

“We kept our composure,” Harden said. “There are going to be games like that where you just have to find a way to win.”