NLL Week 3 Recap

With 12-14 games wrapped up per team, each GM in the league probably has a fairly decent feel for their team at this point... or do they? Some teams are adjusting to their first week with previously injured players, other teams have a steady stream of players heading to/from the IR. Roughly 70 games to go, gents. How ya feeling so far?

Eastern Conference

Rk	TEAM	W	L	PCT	TGB	CONF	DIV	HOME	ROAD	PF	PA	DIFF	L10	STREAK
1	Philadelphia	11	3	0.786	0.0	9-1	3-1	5-1	6-2	118.00	110.43	+7.57	10-0	W 10
2	New York	10	2	0.833	0.0	7-1	2-0	5-0	5-2	115.75	104.67	+11.08	8-2	W 3
3	Milwaukee	9	3	0.750	1.0	5-2	4-0	4-0	5-3	110.75	102.67	+8.08	7-3	W 1
4	Orlando	9	4	0.692	1.5	6-3	3-0	3-2	6-2	106.00	105.77	+0.23	7-3	W 3
5	Boston	8	4	0.667	2.0	3-3	1-1	2-2	6-2	112.75	110.17	+2.58	8-2	W 5
6	Chicago	8	5	0.615	2.5	5-5	1-3	5-1	3-4	108.08	105.38	+2.70	7-3	W 4
7	Atlanta	7	6	0.538	3.5	4-6	2-2	4-4	3-2	107.23	103.77	+3.46	5-5	L 1
8	Washington	6	6	0.500	4.0	4-5	1-0	4-4	2-2	106.33	110.67	-4.34	4-6	L 1

Western Conference*

Rk	TEAM	W	L	PCT	TGB	CONF	DIV	HOME	ROAD	PF	PA	DIFF	L10	STREAK
1	San Antonio	11	3	0.786	0.0	9-1	5-0	4-2	7-1	106.86	97.79	+9.07	7-3	L 1
2	Sacramento	9	3	0.750	1.0	4-3	2-0	7-1	2-2	110.50	107.50	+3.00	8-2	W 3
3	Oklahoma City	9	4	0.692	1.5	8-3	2-1	4-2	5-2	105.00	98.54	+6.46	7-3	W 4
4	Minnesota	8	4	0.667	2.0	6-3	2-1	4-1	4-3	103.83	100.42	+3.41	6-4	L 1
5	LA Lakers	8	4	0.667	2.0	6-3	1-1	5-1	3-3	111.83	106.25	+5.58	7-3	W 2
6	Denver	7	5	0.583	3.0	4-4	1-2	5-2	2-3	112.08	108.92	+3.16	6-4	W 2
7	Dallas	6	6	0.500	4.0	6-4	1-3	3-3	3-3	103.25	102.75	+0.50	6-4	L 1
8	Golden State	6	6	0.500	4.0	4-4	1-0	3-3	3-3	106.50	107.00	-0.50	5-5	L 3

* San Antonio has a Week 4 win that was registered prior to grabbing the screenshot

What stands out in Week 3?  Detroit, LAC and Pacers on week long (or greater) losing streaks. How much do the Pistons want their rookie phenom back in the lineup? Detroit is most certainly a playoff team with Simmons in the lineup, right? Teams like the Hawks had a strong start but came back to earth this week (read: reality check).

Best Week (Team)

Yes, Philly rattled off another perfect week and have won 10 straight now. The Spurs had a solid 3-1 week. New York and Chicago had good weeks as well. But, I'm gonna look at the Celtics as the team who had the best week. Boston took down 3 teams currently in the playoff picture in route to a perfect week. Knocking off Milwaukee, Houston, Golden State and Washington took them from 4-4 to 8-4, which admittedly reflects expectations after a strong offseason.

The 12 point win at home over a strong Bucks team had to be particularly sweet. GM JMac had commented that his team had already given up three double digit leads in the season - perhaps a turning point has been reached early in the NLL season for the organization. A certain superstar for the Celts was huge this week as well... more on him later...

Worst Week (Team)

Sitting at 6-2, with four of five Week3 games at home, the Atlanta Hawks had an opportunity to be sitting at 9-4 or even 10-3. The Hawks looked more like the team that the league had expected them to be, dropping 4 of 5 with only a win over the Miami Heat. Jared Dudley was abysmal at SF, and the rest of the team inconsistent at best. Chicago took two against Atlanta and Orlando notched a second straight win over the now hapless Hawks. Rumors are circulating that CP3 will be traded shortly and the team would then go into full rebuild mode.

Best Game of the Week

An overtime thriller in the West this week! DWade with a season-high 28 points, yet Davis pumps in his super-human 39 points to top the defending champs. The teams were tied at 102 with almost 2 minutes left in regulation and stiff defense found the teams tied as time expired. The Spurs got 9 from AD in the OT session to seal the win.

Worst Game of the Week

More of a "worst team performance" of the week here... the Wizards forgot to warm up in pre-game apparently and found themselves down 33 points at the half versus the powerhouse Knicks. This with Harden only scoring 15 in the game. To be fair, the Knicks have been a dominant force - but you probably haven't witnessed a worse first half in the NLL this season.

Surprise(s)

 Charlotte's rookies have played brilliantly, but it hasn't always translated to wins this season. The Hornets sit at only 5-7 through the first 3 weeks, but take a look at how the rookies have performed:

PLAYER	G	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	FPG	PPG	PER
B. Ingram	12	8	31.0	0.45	0.34	0.60	5.7	1.9	0.7	0.8	23.9	23.17
J. Murray	12	12	35.5	0.44	0.36	0.89	6.1	1.8	0.9	2.0	12.1	10.46
T. Maker	12	0	19.0	0.44	0.33	0.79	6.6	0.5	0.5	1.3	11.2	20.73

That's 47.2 points a game on a team that also has phenom Kristaps Porzingis. The Hornets should (and I predict WILL) be better than 5 wins. It's tough when Week 3 had two games versus Philly and then you blow a game to the Heat. I expect this team to be a solid playoff contender if the young guys stay healthy.

All-NLL  (Week 3)

As requested after Week 1, I thought I'd throw together a "Top 5" team for Week 3. Somewhat subjective, somewhat statistical here...

Kevin Durant: a beast of a week for KD. Massive line for the star "anythign but small" forward:

Anthony Davis: the Unibrow will likely be on this list every week. A stat that doesn't show below? 16.5 points in the paint per game in Week 3. He's lethal no matter where he's at on the court.

Andre Drummond: another "AD" makes the list for his rebounding prowess. Take a look at this stat line:

The highlight missing here for Drummond? He led the league in second chance points with 5.8 per game. Offensive rebounding at its finest.

Steph Curry: the "dagger" hits his stride in Week 3. His best +/- week and highest 3P%, as well as free throw attempts. He's getting it done for the Bulls!

Demar DeRozan: Orlando's star came up solidly for the Magic in Week 3. He's been their stats leader for 12 of 13 games, and all of them in Week 3. A rough week from behind the arc doesn't negate his value to the team:

Summary

Too early in the season to know the full picture, but man the East looked tough again this week. The Knicks didn't get much love in this recap, but they continue to shine with their star studded lineup. Philly is on a tear since the Week 1 scares, and Weeks 4-20 are expected to go in a similar fashion to Week 3, I'm afraid. Plenty of teams (including mine) that will be looking to tweak things after a disappointing third week.