Pelicans vs. Heat: Score and Twitter Reaction from Christmas Day 2015

The Miami Heat nearly gifted the New Orleans Pelicans a win despite leading for much of their Christmas Day matchup. The Pelicans had the final shot in regulation with a chance to win, but they didn't convert, and the Heat escaped with a 94-88 overtime victory.

Chris Bosh led the way for Miami with 30 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and a steal, while Dwyane Wade chipped in 19 points, six rebounds and four assists. Anthony Davis was excellent for New Orleans, finishing with 29 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, four steals and three blocks, while Ryan Anderson added 18 points. 

Neither team shot particularly well from the field. The Heat hit on 39.8 percent of their attempts, and the Pelicans made just 40 percent of theirs. 

Miami was on fire early in the game, scoring the first seven points and taking a 27-15 lead by the end of the first quarter, highlighted by this dunk from Wade:

Davis paced New Orleans with 11 points in the quarter. 

The Pelicans narrowed the deficit to just four after a strong second quarter. Davis was incredible in the first half, finishing with 20 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocks and outscoring the rest of his team by two points.

This putback slam by Davis provided an exclamation point:

Davis also became the first player to score 20 points and notch 10 rebounds in the first half of a game this season, per ESPN Stats and Info. Tom Haberstroh of ESPN put Davis' dominant first half into perspective:

Wade led the Heat in the first half with 11 points, continuing his strong season, as Ethan J. Skolnick of the Miami Herald noted:

While Wade cooled off in the second frame, Bosh took over, and his matchup with Davis on both ends of the court was the game's most compelling subplot. 

The two took turns frustrating one another, as Haberstroh tweeted:

They also talked some trash throughout the game, per Bleacher Report:

Though Miami held the lead for most of the game, New Orleans managed to even things at 70 with five minutes remaining. A tip-in by Anderson with under two minutes left gave the Pelicans their first lead of the game at 74-72, though Bosh quickly answered to tie the game again.

After the teams traded buckets, Gerald Green's steal and layup on the other end put the Heat up 78-76 with 48 seconds remaining. But again New Orleans answered, as Eric Gordon made a layup of his own. After Bosh missed, the Pelicans had the ball coming out of a timeout with 13.5 seconds on the clock. Davis had a shot to give New Orleans the win, but his long jumper bounced off the rim. 

That set up the first Christmas overtime game since the 2004 clash between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami, per ESPN Stats and Info. This contest was the lowest-scoring game in regulation to go to overtime on Christmas since 1985, when the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks were tied at 86, according to ESPN Stats and Info.

The Pelicans went cold in overtime, and the Heat secured the home win, as Bosh scored seven points and Wade tallied six in the five-minute extra session.

Miami next faces the Magic in Orlando on Saturday, while New Orleans will host the Houston Rockets that same day.  

Postgame Reaction

Rob Foldy/Getty Images

Wade was pretty blunt in his analysis of the contest.

"It was just ugly," he said, per Skolnick. "Ugly game." 

Bosh agreed with that sentiment—to a point.

"We had good looks, they just didn't fall in," he said, per Juan Arango of ESPN. "That's why you play defense."

He added, "This is what we need. We need to win games like these," per Skolnick.

Bosh also spoke about his matchup against Davis. 

"He was shooting in my face all night and making quite a bit," he said, according to Skolnick. "So I had to return the favor."

In the other locker room, the emphasis was on the sloppy nature of the game. Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry was surprised by his team's inability to take advantage of the Heat's mistakes, per Haberstroh:

Despite falling to 9-20 with the loss, New Orleans is still just four games out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference and could get back into the postseason conversation with a run of good play. Now 17-11, Miami is just 0.5 games behind the Atlanta Hawks for first place in the Southeast Division and the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.