NLL 'March to May' Continues: 10 Things to Know for Week 16

PHILADELPHIA - March 14, 2024 - PRLog -- The National Lacrosse League (@NLL), the largest and most successful professional lacrosse property in the world, pushes further into the "March to May" with six weeks to go in the regular season. This Friday and Saturday, it's a full schedule of seven contests, including an NLL Game of the Week on TSN doubleheader on Saturday, the first of which is the marquee matchup of the current league leader Toronto Rock (11-2) visiting the defending champion Buffalo Bandits (6-6) (7 p.m., TSN3, ESPN+).

Here are 10 things to know about the NLL entering Week 16:

• Standing Zone: 10 NLL teams are within two games between third and 12^th place, and the battle for the eighth and final playoff spot (https://www.nll.com/standings/) sees five teams within 1 ½ games of the slot, currently tenuously held by New York at 6-7.
• Deadline Doings: Have a hard time keeping up with all the player movement though Tuesday's NLL trade deadline? So did we, so we let NLL.com's Adam Levi sort it all out in this feature (https://www.nll.com/news/taggart-and-picks-could-pay-divi...).
• We're No. 1… and No. 4… and No. 4: ESPN SportsCenter loved three NLL plays most of all, with Chris Cloutier (Kitchener, Ont.) going behind the back getting the No. 1 nod.
• Metric Fields: In his relentless pursuit of the stories behind the numbers, NLL.com's Cooper Perkins wondered how Rochester's Connor Fields (East Amherst, N.Y.) could be leading the league in points per game.
• Withers Lets Loose: Goals, assists, and goals against average get a lot of the statistical attention around here, but often it's the plays before those flashier numbers that win games. Enter Halifax defender Jake Withers (Peterborough, Ont.), whose 214 loose ball recoveries are a full 82 more than his nearest competitor.
• Zeroing In: The Albany FireWolves and Vancouver Warriors combined for a scoreless first quarter, the first time neither team failed to dent the net in the first period in nearly a decade.
• Rocky Top: A win over last year's runner up Colorado Mammoth further solidified the Toronto Rock's status as the No. 1 team in NLL.com's Adam Levi's Power Rankings (https://www.nll.com/news/week-16-power-rankings-2/).
• Luck of the Irish: Hurling may be the ball-and-stick game of choice in Ireland, but in North America this weekend, St. Patrick's Day themes rule NLL arenas, with six of the seven games hosting nights celebrating.

http://www.nll.com