The Golden State Warriors picked up an important 123-108 win over the New Orleans Pelicans in the first ever Marvel Arena of Heroes game.
Carrying the Marvel theme throughout the ESPN broadcast, the game gave basketball and Marvel fans the chance to come together, with three players from each roster playing for Hero Points.
Players were awarded one Hero Point for every point, rebound, assist, steal and block, while they had one Hero Point deducted for every missed field goal, free-throw and turnover.
Finishing the night with 10 points, 13 rebounds, 15 assists, three steals and two blocks, Draymond Green topped Steph Curry by just one Hero Point. Curry delivered another electric scoring performance with 41 points on 14-for-26 from the field, including eight makes from beyond the arc.
| Player | Hero Points |
| Draymond Green | 48 |
| Steph Curry | 47 |
| Andrew Wiggins | 33 |
| Zion Williamson | 24 |
| Brandon Ingram | 17 |
| Lonzo Ball | 5 |
A scoring breakdown for Draymond Green as he becomes Marvel's first #ArenaOfHeroes champion with a game-high 48 Hero Points! pic.twitter.com/Ib5OJYUlUb
— NBA (@NBA) May 4, 2021
"This is incredible. I was excited about this game," Green said in a postgame interview on ESPN. "I've got three kids, two that understand Marvel and they're watching. I was really excited about this game and I'm happy I won this."
Green took off during the second quarter, channelling his inner Iron Man for a ferocious one-handed jam.
DR🔨Y pic.twitter.com/ToNFMivRfN
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) May 4, 2021
The special Marvel broadcast came from a themed studio, with Ryan Ruocco and Richard Jefferson providing commentary alongside analysis from Marvel expert Angélique Roché. The presentation of the game was accompanied by colourful graphics on made shots, while some of the most well known Marvel stars were lurking around the arena.
Iron Man is lurking 👀 pic.twitter.com/fwJXOC4JA2
— ESPN (@espn) May 3, 2021
Aside from the Marvel fun, the game carried real postseason implications, with the Pelicans desperately trying to sneak back into the Play-In Tournament calculations. Including tonight's game, the Warriors and Pelicans had three meetings on the run home, with New Orleans three games back of the Warriors in the standings.
New Orleans are now three games back of the San Antonio Spurs in tenth, and four games back of Golden State in ninth with only seven games to play.
For Curry, it was the continuation of a blistering patch of basketball, with the scoring outburst providing his ninth 40-point game of the season and his six in the last 15 games. Across the 15-game stretch, Curry holds averages of 37.1 points, with his 6.9 3-point makes per game coming at a clip of 47.1 percent.
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