Davis Leads Pelicans Over Struggling Heat, 105-95

Miami Heat suffers their seventh loss in 11 games

Anthony Davis had 30 points, 11 rebounds and three steals, and the New Orleans Pelicans handed the struggling Miami Heat their seventh loss in 11 games, 105-95 on Saturday night.

LeBron James twisted his right ankle while stepping on Pelicans guard Tyreke Evans' foot during a drive to the hoop late in the third quarter, but remained in the game and finished with 25 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. It was not enough for Miami, which gave guard Dwyane Wade and center Greg Oden the night off following Friday's victory at Memphis.

Pelicans guard Eric Gordon also sat out with a sore left knee, but New Orleans got 14 points from Evans, 12 from Al-Farouq Aminu and 11 from Luke Babbitt.

Mario Chalmers scored 19 points and Michael Beasley 16 for Miami, which trailed for all but 18 seconds of the second half and trailed by as much as 16 in the fourth quarter.

Babbitt was making his first start of the season and hit three 3-pointers. The Pelicans were 7 of 17 from long range and hit 51 percent (43 of 84) of their shots from the field. Miami shot 50.7 percent (37 of 73), but turned the ball over 16 times, leading to 19 New Orleans points.

New Orleans, which has won two straight, also outrebounded Miami 38-33.

Toney Douglas started for Wade, but was called for his fourth foul after turning the ball over to Davis early in the third quarter and played only 13:52.

The Pelicans led 76-72 after three periods, but began to pull away early in the fourth even as Davis was resting on the bench. Anthony Morrow, who had 10 points, hit his second 3 to give New Orleans an 85-76 lead with nine minutes left.

Davis checked in shortly after, and put the Pelicans up 92-78 on a 21-foot bank shot as he was fouled by Chris Andersen. The lead got as large as 16 on Austin Rivers' free throws with 4:33 left and Miami never got closer than eight points after that.

Miami opened the game on a 10-2 run, which turned out to be its biggest lead of the game. Then the Heat got sloppy. The Pelicans scored off of turnovers by James, Udonis Haslem and Chris Bosh during a 15-3 run, highlighted by Davis' steal from Bosh for a breakaway dunk.

New Orleans took its largest lead of the first half when Aminu's layup made it 38-30, but James' soaring alley-oop jam of a baseline inbound pass from Douglas sparked an 8-0 run that tied it.

Davis had 14 points in the first half, and his putback dunk put New Orleans up 43-38 before Ray Allen's 3 and James' 19-foot fadeaway helped pull Miami to 45-43 at halftime.

Notes: The Pelicans' victory was their first over Miami since November 2010. ... Bosh finished with 12 points for the Heat and Allen had 10.

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