Lakers, Grizzlies Lead NBA With Most Under Results This Season

Only the Memphis Grizzlies have been worse than the Lakers in terms of totals finishing below the number this season, with the under going 40-26 in their games.

The disappointing play of the Los Angeles Lakers cannot be blamed solely on LeBron James in his first year with the team. However, it is easy to pinpoint their issues in falling way short of expectations against the spread with regards to OVER/UNDER totals.

Here we will focus on the latter, with the Lakers seeing the UNDER go a surprising 39-25-1 at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com in their first 65 games (60 percent).

Los Angeles was expected to be much better on offense and defense with the addition of James, who signed there as a free agent last offseason. Instead, the Lakers are riding a four-game losing streak with three straight UNDER results cashing to seemingly put them on the brink of elimination from making the playoffs for the sixth year in a row.

Only the Memphis Grizzlies have been worse in terms of totals finishing below the number this season, with the UNDER going 40-26 in their games. However, if you look at the current roster of a Memphis team averaging a league-low 101.4 points per game, you can certainly understand why the UNDER continues to cash with a current 4-1 run right now.

The Grizzlies are also a very solid defensive team, allowing 103.8 points per game, which ranks second-best in the NBA behind the Indiana Pacers.

The Pacers (37-28 UNDER) and Phoenix Suns (37-29 UNDER) get honorable mentions, but for much different reasons. Indiana's league-best defense has translated to an impressive third-place ranking in the Eastern Conference standings. Meanwhile, Phoenix has struggled offensively due in part to injuries with just 106.7 points per game.

On the other side of the spectrum, the Washington Wizards have seen the most OVER results on the NBA odds cash in their games with a record of 41-23 through 64 games. The Wizards are the second-worst defensive team in the NBA, surrendering an average of 117 points per game. Only the Atlanta Hawks have been worse at 118.8 points given up per game, and they have a strong OVER mark of 37-29 as well.

The San Antonio Spurs (38-27-1 OVER) and Minnesota Timberwolves (37-28 OVER) have similar numbers too based partially on the perception of oddsmakers that each team's defense was better than it really is this season.