When the Miami Heat needed Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade the most, their stars delivered.
Bosh was Miami’s best player throughout the entire game, finishing with 30 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Even though Anthony Davis had a pretty good game himself with 29 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks, Bosh defended him well. The Bostrich is the exact type of player to give Davis troubles on both ends of the floor. In many ways, he’s almost like a mirror image of the Pelicans star – a lanky forward who can stretch the floor, rebound, run the offense and guard multiple positions on a single possession. Bosh had the chance to win the game in regulation, but his fadeaway didn’t even draw iron.
He redeemed himself in overtime, though, scoring seven points in the final five minutes, including the game-sealing layup.
Wade wasn’t as consistent as Bosh, scoring just 19 points on 7-20 shooting, but he came through in a big way in the extra frame. Playing beautifully off of Bosh, Wade was equal parts distributor and scorer, hitting one of his patented fadeaways to put the Heat up five in the closing minutes of overtime.
That it even took extra time for the Heat to win was baffling. They had the advantage for almost the entire game, leading by double digits on multiple occasions. Yet in the fourth quarter, thanks to Ryan Anderson catching fire from deep, the Heat and the Pelicans were knotted at 78. Bosh’s missed jumper left the Pelicans with one last chance to win the game, and it was a disaster. Tyreke Evans completely botched the play the first time, forcing Alvin Gentry to call a timeout just seconds after the ball went into play.
Gentry calls a timeout and basically asks Tyreke what on earth he was doing on that play. 9 seconds left.
— Scott Kushner (@ScottDKushner) December 25, 2015
This disaster would later repeat in overtime, as Evans, seemingly unaware of his responsibilities, or perhaps just disinterested, botched the set for the Pelicans.
If you wanted to know how this OT is going for the Pelicans, their GM Dell Demps just walked out with 40.7 seconds left.
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) December 25, 2015
For Bosh and Wade, Christmas was as delightful as can be. For the Pelicans, and especially Tyreke Evans, they might as well have gotten lumps of coal.
