Davis dominates, Holiday proves clutch in 124-123 Pelicans OT win over Heat

NEW ORLEANS — It looked very familiar. The New Orleans Pelicans scored a lot of points. Anthony Davis went crazy to the tune of 45 points, 17 rebounds, five steals and five blocks.

The Pelicans gave up a lot of points. New Orleans certainly didn’t do anything that would improve their defensive ranking by allowing the Miami Heat to score 123 points; just one less than the Heat’s season-high. Miami scored 70 points in the paint; off the dribble, with the pass, and in the post, the Heat got to the rim.

If those things had all happened over the previous two seasons, you’d have bet the Pelicans had lost that game.

There have been too many times this season that’s happened as well.

But lately, the New Orleans Pelicans are winning those games, and they did it Friday night, beating the Heat 124-123 in overtime.

The Pelicans have come up big when asked to play some extra basketball. New Orleans is 6-2 this season when going into OT, winners of their last five in a row.

The Pels also extended their current win streak to four games, equaling their season high.

New Orleans had to scratch fight and claw, overcome plenty of mistakes, rely on the brilliance of Davis and Jrue Holiday, who had 29 points including the game-winner, get an unexpected 21 points from Ian Clark, and block a season-high 13 shots. The reborn Emeka Okafor matched Davis with 5 blocks in just 17 minutes.

“We don’t win that game without Ian playing the way he played,” said Davis. “We don’t win that game without Jrue playing the way he played..We’re playing with a lot of confidence in the last four games now. “We’re playing with a lot more pace…Guys are playing in a rhythm and with a lot of confidence. That’s what we have to do.”

But it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that the Pelicans won. They took a step forward in their pursuit of a return to the playoffs after a two-year absence.

The Pelicans kept playing, and when it was time Davis, who is averaging an absurd 42.5 points and 14.7 rebounds during the streak, and then Holiday, who has scored more than 20 points in all four games, were able to grab that one more board, draw that foul, make the key shot.

Davis became the first player in league history to put up that statline in a game since 1963, when blocks became a statistic.

It was a good win. It was the kind of games that good teams find a way to win.

It’s still a long, tough road ahead. The Pelicans will play their final 25 games in 47 nights, which will surely test the mental and physical resilience of this team.

The Pelicans feel like it’s coming together though. They feel ready.

“I think we needed a game like this,” added Ian Clark, “trailing the whole game, and being able to grind it out and get a win, especially off the (All-Star) break. Being able to have a game like this, especially at home for us is good and hopefully we can continue off this momentum.”

Davis is putting up Chamberlain-esque box scores. That’s frightening when you consider the he can still get better and that losing Cousins has done nothing if not forced AD to reclaim his position on his team and in the NBA.

Holiday, who is proving to be the Pelicans’ best two-way player on a nightly basis, has 27 games of 20 points or more this season, up from 18 a year ago.

The Pelicans didn’t panic when things didn’t go well on Friday. Even with the mistakes, New Orleans competed all game long. That’s playing 40 minutes. That’s progress.

Now it’s down to 24 games. It will be an amazing test. Let’s see if the Pelicans can pass.