MIAMI -- Goran Dragic heard the chants, but he was slightly confused.

The fans at AmericanAirlines Arena were chanting, "MVP! MVP!" serenading the Miami Heat point guard on a night in which he scored 33 points, one short of his season high.

"It was like (Dwyane) Wade was here," Dragic said of his former teammate, who is now with the Chicago Bulls. "I immediately looked around."

No need to look elsewhere. Dragic's performance helped Miami beat the New Orleans Pelicans 120-112 on Wednesday.

Making the guard's effort even more impressive is the fact that Dragic missed the Heat's loss at Indiana on Sunday after he got elbowed in the right eye by Toronto Raptors guard Cory Joseph on Saturday.

Dragic saw his eye swell shut by Sunday, but he made a quick recovery.

"My eye is fine," he said, "as long as I don't get hit."

Dragic did get hit in the fourth quarter, but it was his mouth that took the damage this time as he spit up some blood.

"Even the ref said, 'I saw it,'" Dragic said. "I said, 'Why didn't you call it?' He was like, 'I don't know.'"

That uncalled foul was one of the few things that went wrong for the Heat on Wednesday. Dragic made 11 of 18 shots from the floor, including 5 of 9 3-point attempts. It was his sixth 30-plus-point performance of the season.

In addition, Heat center Hassan Whiteside recorded his 10th straight double-double with 20 points and 17 rebounds. Reserve guard Wayne Ellington had 19 points.

Miami made 50.6 percent of its shots overall, including 16 of 35 from 3-point range (45.7 percent).

"We let them get hot," Pelicans center DeMarcus Cousins said of the Heat. "Once shooters get going like that, it's pretty hard to stop them. We gave them too much space."

The Heat (33-35) improved to 22-5 in their past 27 games as they continue their bid for an Eastern Conference playoff berth.

"It's just ours to lose at this point," Heat guard Josh Richardson said. "We have played ourselves into a good position. We just have to continue to do what we do."

Pelicans power forward Anthony Davis, who injured his ankle in New Orleans' previous game, had 27 points and eight rebounds. He sustained a bloody arm in the second quarter, but that didn't slow him down much.

New Orleans, an extreme long shot for a playoff berth, had its two-game winning streak snapped. The Pelicans (27-41) are 4-7 since acquiring Cousins in a trade with the Sacramento Kings.

Cousins had 19 points and nine rebounds in 30 shaky minutes. He played just 8:28 in the first quarter, leaving after being called on a questionable offensive foul while tangled up with Whiteside. Cousins was also hit with his 20th technical foul of the season when he argued the call.

In the second period, Cousins played just 48 seconds because he was charged with his third foul.

Miami never trailed in the first half, leading by as many as 14 points. The Pelicans, though, showed life with a 14-2 second-quarter run as Miami held on for a 54-52 lead at halftime.

The Pelicans took that momentum into the third quarter, leading by as many as seven points. However, Dragic had 16 points in the third, and Miami led 85-79 going into the fourth.

Miami shot 65 percent in the fourth quarter, negating the Pelicans' 62.5 percent marksmanship.

Ellington scored eight points in the fourth quarter and finished with 7-of-10 efficiency overall, including 5-of-8 on 3-point tries.

"I don't think Ellington had any looks that weren't highly contested," Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said, "and he made them all."

NOTES: Heat C Hassan Whiteside's 54 double-digit rebound games are two short of Miami's single-season record set by Rony Seikaly. ... Miami is 1-8 when PG Goran Dragic sits out. ... Pelicans C Omer Asik, who has started 19 games this season, is out with a bacterial infection. ... The Heat play their next four at home, starting with a Friday visit by the Minnesota Timberwolves. ... The Pelicans return home to begin a three-game homestand, starting with a game against the Houston Rockets on Friday.