Clippers Give One to Bullets : Pro basketball: Washington wins by overcoming a 15-point third-quarter deficit. ‘We beat ourselves,’ Grant says.

Robin Fricker, an obnoxious heckler who sits behind the visitors’ bench at the USAir Arena at Washington Bullet games, choked a rubber chicken by the neck behind the Clipper bench during a timeout in the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s game.

It was an appropriate gesture because the Clippers choked, squandering a 15-point third-quarter lead and losing to the Bullets, 93-87, on a snowy night in a half-empty arena.

“We didn’t execute in the fourth quarter,” Clipper guard Gary Grant said. “We beat ourselves.”

The Clippers, who led, 72-57, with 1:35 to play in the third quarter, were outscored, 27-11, in a 9:46 spurt that spanned the third and fourth quarters. Rookie forward Juwan Howard, who had 25 points and 12 rebounds, capped the rally by making a free throw with 3:49 remaining to give the Bullets an 84-83 lead.

After Clipper center Charles Outlaw made a free throw to tie it, 84-84, Washington outscored the Clippers, 9-3, in the final 3:30. Guard Rex Chapman, who scored 16 of his 24 points in the final quarter, made four free throws in the final 12 seconds to clinch the victory.

“It’s very frustrating to give a game away when you have a game won,” said Clipper forward Loy Vaught, who had 16 points and 14 rebounds. “We had a bad fourth quarter. We were good for three quarters, but it wasn’t good enough.”

Clipper Coach Bill Fitch was disgusted after his team was outscored, 31-15, in the final quarter as the Bullets shot 72.7%.

“It was tough tonight guys, I’m telling you,” Fitch said. “I’m mad at a lot of things. . . . This one, I have to bite my tongue because there’s too many damn plays out there that I would hope the guys could make in this league.

“I’m just expecting better shooting and passing for one thing. You’ve got to have better judgment than we had tonight running our offense.”

With starting point guard Pooh Richardson sidelined for the second consecutive game because of a sprained right knee, the Clippers seemed lost in the fourth quarter, missing 15 of 20 shots.

Clipper rookie forward Lamond Murray, who had 23 points in the first three quarters, scored only two in the fourth quarter, missing four of five shots.

Guard Randy Woods and Grant combined to make only three of 15 shots in the game. Woods, who started the third game of his three-year NBA career in place of Richardson, missed six of seven shots and had five points and seven assists. Grant, who missed six of eight shots, had eight points and three assists.

Grant said the Clippers were out of sync in the final quarter.

“We shot a lot of quick shots, and we shot a lot of rushed shots and that’s what caused us to only score 15 points,” Grant said. “I kept the ball a lot (in the fourth quarter), so I’ll take the blame for this one. We were winning and I came in and we lost the lead.”

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Clipper Notes

Although 17,779 tickets were sold for the game, only 6,158 fans made it to the arena after a late-afternoon snowstorm snarled traffic, forcing officials to close the Capital Beltway. Fans were allowed to move from upper level seats to any empty arena level seat at the end of the first quarter. . . . Already shorthanded, the Clippers lost guard Terry Dehere, who sat out the second half after spraining his left ankle in the second quarter. Dehere missed two games last month because of a sprained right ankle.

Guard Pooh Richardson, who sprained a ligament in his right knee in Wednesday night’s 107-98 victory at Boston, tested that knee during the shootaround Saturday morning and had a light workout before the game. He hopes to return for Monday night’s game against the Detroit Pistons at Auburn Hills, Mich. . . . Washington point guard Scott Skiles was ejected after drawing two technical fouls for arguing with referee Woody Mayfield with 1:57 to play in the first half.