Bullets’ Pair of Aces Beats Clipper Straight

The Fab Five has been reduced to the Fab Two, but Washington Bullet forwards Chris Webber and Juwan Howard are still fabulous.

Webber and Howard, perhaps the NBA’s best forward combination, scored 25 points apiece as the Bullets ended the Clippers’ modest three-game winning streak with a 102-93 victory Thursday night before an announced 7,399 at the Sports Arena.

“I think I take it for granted playing with Juwan,” said Webber, who teamed with Howard to lead Michigan to back-to-back appearances in the NCAA championship game. “We’ve been playing together since I was six years old.

“Both of us emulated guys like Magic [Johnson] all our lives and we’re just trying to be a little better. I know Juwan has my back and I’ve got his.”

Clipper Coach Bill Fitch said Webber and Howard are tough to check.

“There’s better [forward] combinations, but there aren’t too many that beat you inside as much as they do, and there aren’t that many that are that young with that many years ahead of them,” Fitch said.

The Clippers, who trailed by as many as 17 points in the third quarter, outscored the Bullets, 26-8, in a 10 1/2-minute run at the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth to take an 88-87 lead.

“I think it was draining coming back,” Clipper forward Rodney Rogers said. “We had the lead and then we gave it back.”

The Bullets were so disorganized that they called timeouts only 17 seconds apart during the Clipper spurt. After calling a timeout with 9:20 remaining in the final quarter to try to halt the run, they had to call another one to straighten out their substitutions.

However, Webber had six points and an assist as the Bullets ended the game with a 15-5 spurt. Webber made two jumpers, set up a layup by Howard with a nice pass and dunked a missed shot by Tracy Murray.

Clipper forwards Loy Vaught and Rogers also played their best games of the season.

Vaught had a season-high 25 points and 18 rebounds. Rogers had a season-best 27 points and six rebounds.

Webber and Clipper swingman Charles Outlaw received technical fouls for an altercation with 3:56 remaining in the second quarter.

It looked as if Webber and Outlaw might come to blows after Outlaw knocked Webber down as they battled for position underneath the Bullet basket.

However, no punches were thrown and they were quickly separated by Clifford Ray, a Bullet assistant coach.

“I like Outlaw a lot,” Webber said. “It was just hustle. He was sitting on me and I didn’t want him to sit on me.”

Outlaw said he didn’t want to fight Webber.

“We fell down,” Outlaw said. “Why would I want to fight him? We fell down, that’s all it was. I was trying to get up. It wasn’t nothing.”

Webber, who came into the game averaging 19.8 points and 10.1 rebounds, knocked out the Clippers in the first half, making eight of his first 10 shots and scoring 17 points as the Bullets took a 59-47 halftime lead.

Webber, who scored 13 of the Bullets’ first 21 points, had as many points as the Clippers in the first nine minutes of the game.

Howard, who made all six shots he took in the second quarter as the Bullets shot 72.2% in the quarter, had 16 points in the first half.

The Clippers, who held their Christmas party Tuesday night at owner Donald T. Sterling’s Beverly Hills’ penthouse office, looked as if they were still celebrating against the Bullets, who shot 64.1% in the first half.

“We played Santa Claus on defense for about three quarters of that game,” Fitch said. “I don’t think it was until the third quarter that we got down to business and let them know that it’s not Christmas yet.”

Bullet center Gheorghe Muresan outplayed Clipper centers Kevin Duckworth and rookie Lorenzen Wright. The 7-foot-7 Muresan made five of six shots and had 14 points and eight rebounds in 25 minutes. Duckworth had two points and one rebound in 16 minutes and Wright had no points and one rebound in 17 minutes.