The latest season of the NLL is well under way, with 62 games in the books thus far. With a new engine in 2K16 to adjust to, I'm sure many GMs will be making some tweaks moving forward. As a new GM, I don't know most of the league history, but hopefully will bring a fresh perspective and energy as each of our teams' dynamics start to take shape. Let's take a look back at this first week:

Eastern Conference

Rk	TEAM	W	L	PCT	TGB	CONF	DIV	HOME	ROAD	PF	PA	DIFF	L10	STREAK
1	Milwaukee	4	0	1.000	0.0	2-0	1-0	1-0	3-0	110.50	100.00	+10.50	4-0	-
2	New York	4	0	1.000	0.0	2-0	1-0	3-0	1-0	119.00	100.75	+18.25	4-0	-
3	Washington	3	1	0.750	1.0	3-1	1-0	2-0	1-1	109.50	103.50	+6.00	3-1	-
4	Orlando	3	1	0.750	1.0	2-1	1-0	2-0	1-1	108.00	104.50	+3.50	3-1	-
5	Charlotte	3	1	0.750	1.0	2-1	0-0	1-0	2-1	110.50	103.00	+7.50	3-1	-
6	Detroit	3	1	0.750	1.0	2-1	0-0	2-0	1-1	108.00	100.50	+7.50	3-1	-
7	Atlanta	3	1	0.750	1.0	2-1	0-1	2-0	1-1	109.00	100.50	+8.50	3-1	-
8	Cleveland	2	2	0.500	2.0	2-1	1-0	1-1	1-1	112.00	114.50	-2.50	2-2	-

Western Conference

Rk	TEAM	W	L	PCT	TGB	CONF	DIV	HOME	ROAD	PF	PA	DIFF	L10	STREAK
1	San Antonio	4	0	1.000	0.0	3-0	2-0	2-0	2-0	102.75	89.75	+13.00	4-0	-
2	Minnesota	4	0	1.000	0.0	3-0	1-0	1-0	3-0	109.50	99.50	+10.00	4-0	-
3	LA Lakers	3	1	0.750	1.0	2-0	0-0	3-0	0-1	110.25	105.00	+5.25	3-1	-
4	Sacramento	3	1	0.750	1.0	1-1	0-0	2-1	1-0	108.50	106.75	+1.75	3-1	-
5	LA Clippers	2	2	0.500	2.0	2-1	1-0	1-1	1-1	104.25	109.00	-4.75	2-2	-
6	Oklahoma City	2	2	0.500	2.0	2-1	0-1	1-1	1-1	105.25	98.25	+7.00	2-2	-
7	Houston	2	2	0.500	2.0	1-1	1-1	1-0	1-2	101.00	102.25	-1.25	2-2	-
8	Denver	2	2	0.500	2.0	1-2	1-1	2-0	0-2	114.50	112.50	+2.00	2-2	-

Best team

Four teams ran the table in Week 1, but from a strength of schedule and sheer dominance perspective, I've got to hand the honors to dundan's New York Knicks. The boys from Manhattan led the league in points per game (119.0), as well as point differential (+18.25). They have two players on MVP watch in Kyrie Irving (#4) and James Harden (#7). Dwight Howard is averaging 14.3 points and 15.3 boards, so that doesn’t hurt them either.  Paul Millsap isn't a weak link either, he put up 23 against the Pelicans in the final game of the week and was sinking shots from all over the court.

I’ve watched just a bit of New York thus far, but man, they look really tough. All of the starting five are at a +12 DIFF so far. That is impressive! A couple of big away games for the Knicks in Charlotte in Week 2 will give us an even stronger picture as to how good this team truly is.

I went with New York over San Antonio, Milwaukee, and Minnesota on the basis of who they beat. Three or four games doesn't likely provide enough statistical data, but hey, this is an opinion article. You cannot fault teams for who they play, but I'd say that beating the Clippers and Bulls is stronger than beating Dallas and Toronto, for example.

Worst team

Put the new GM on the spot, why don't ya!? Memphis has a pretty rough point differential (-18.00), but that did come against some really tough competition (plus their double OT win was epic... more about that later…). Miami went 0-5, Portland 0-4... Proid and new GM Toby both started with rough weeks.

I'm gonna give the "honors" to the Heat with the five opening week losses. The team from South Beach is only shooting 63% from the foul line, being decimated by Joakim Noah’s 8-for-25 start from the charity stripe. Then, there’s Randy Foye’s 2-for-23 from the arc, that’s 9% for you maths folks. It takes a team to win games, and a team to lose games, though. It hasn’t been pretty thus far.

Best Game

Hard not to be biased on this one, based on my sim of it: Memphis over Denver in double OT. I am so mad that I didn't have Twitch set up right on this one to get it archived! I didn’t watch the whole game intently, but if you read the comments, in the link below, I tried to document what was happening down the stretch of the fourth quarter and both overtimes.

128-126 (Double OT)

Here's a recap:

• John Wall steps to the line for Denver for two shots, only hits 1 of them, giving the Nuggets a two point lead. Wesley Matthews, who took 31 shot attempts in the game, hits about a 20 footer to tie the game with :04 to go. Wall's desperation three misses as time expires.
• First OT was close the whole time, John Wall ties it up with :04.8 to go on a six footer. Matthews has a chance to win it from 10 feet at the buzzer... and misses. Game goes to double OT.
• Second OT, again close the whole freakin' time. Matthews hits 1 of 2 free throws near the end, Grizzlies go up 3. Wall pumps in a trey with :06.8 to go to tie... would the game go to Triple OT?
• Wesley Matthews seizes the moment, hitting a driving layup right at the buzzer to give Memphis the win.

Man, if every game in the NLL were this much of a nail biter! It was truly stunning to see Wall and Matthews go tit-for-tat on the big buckets. Every possession was crucial, every missed free throw, every errant pass. I really hope to witness some more gems like this in the course of the season!

Worst Game

 Is it even right for a team to be on the upside of the best game, and somehow also get on the downside in the worst game? Memphis took a whipping from OKC 105-66. Yes, that's not a typo: 66 points. The beleaguered Grizzlies only had ONE player in double figures (Dante Exum with 16 points). The team had 13 turnovers and 15 personal fouls, to the Thunder's 2 turnovers and 6 fouls. Now, maybe OKC is just that good... but, let's be honest, that loss had to sting pretty badly.

Biggest Upset

We'll leave Memphis alone now. :)

From a glance through the predictions, there were a couple of games that could be classified as "unexpected upsets". I'm going with Sacramento's win over the 76ers (115-103). The Kings squandered an 8 point lead in the opening quarter, but midway in the fourth had opened up a 13 point lead they wouldn't relinquish. With cowbells clanging in stands, and the boys from NorCal now sitting at 3-1, wins by Klay Thompson's squad won't likely be upsets.

Surprise(s)

 Who isn't surprised that my Atlanta Hawks are 3-1, am I right? Guys like Gerald Henderson and Andrew Nicholson are hardly the names you expect to be in the limelight in any week of the season. Certainly helps to have guys like Chris Paul and Greg Monroe playing up to their expectations!

I kind of expected Boston and Chicago to get off to better starts in the East. Chicago had a VERY tough schedule in Week 1, so I’d be more surprised if they don’t rebound from this. Boston did manage to beat OKC after losing to Atlanta and Cleveland, so again I won’t read too much into the first week here.

The Bucks are getting it done, whether Westbrook is on or not. Their lineup wouldn’t strike me as overpowering at first glance, but Russ is only their fourth leading scorer and they are sitting at 4-0!

Dismal Play of the Week

Hanging on to a 3 point lead, Kevin Durant throws this "beauty" of a pass: Not his finest NLL moment