(RANK) (TEAM) (SU RECORD) (O/U RECORD) (O/U RECORD L/5 +$$) 1) New York Knicks (14-22) (14-22 O/U) (0-5 O/U L/5 +$500): Things just haven’t gone as originally planned with Mike D’Antoni coming over from the desert to install his frenzied offensive attack in the “Big Apple.” With the Knicks boasting the 6th ranked offensive attack that averages just under 103 PPG and the league’s 28th ranked defense allowing opponents to tickle the twine for an average 106+ PPG, you’d expect the ‘over’ to have made a killing in Knicks games this season. Unfortunately, quite the opposite has rung true as the ‘under’ has been a profitable investment in NY Knicks games all season long. Each of the Knicks L/7 overall games has failed to surpass the closing ‘total’, and they’ve reached the 100-point plateau just three times during that stretch. However, they get to face Washington twice this week and they just so happened to play in one of their highest scoring games of the season when they first met back in late November.
2) Washington Wizards (7-30) (14-21 O/U) (1-4 O/U L/5 +$290): It makes perfect sense to see the Wizards on this list once again this week considering they boast the 29th ranked offensive attack in the league that’s averaged just 93.3 PPG throughout its first 37 games of the year. In its last five games, the Wizards managed to score 91, 89, 86, 93, and 80 points to chalk up a putrid 0-5 SU and 1-4 ATS effort for the week. Even though the offense continues to fail them, the defense played almost five points better than its seasonal average (99.9 PPG) during that stretch to at least make them competitive in defeat. They’ll square off against the current best ‘under’ team for two to close out this week’s slate of action.
3) Detroit Pistons (22-14) (14-22 O/U) (1-4 O/U L/5 +$290): Stellar defense and a putrid offense have been key for NBA bettors that have backed the ‘under’ in Piston’s games this season. Yes, the offense has been without the efforts of guard Richard Hamilton for a number of games, but it still ranks near the bottom of the league (26th) in scoring averaging just over 93 points per game. That said; Detroit has always been about defense and this year is no different; regardless of who the head coach is. Only two games have gone over the ‘total’ in Detroit’s L/10 games, and those two games went over by a combined 3.5-points. Oddsmakers have a solid handle on this club in the total’s department, so pick your spots if you think the Pistons are ripe for a higher scoring game.
4) Memphis Grizzlies (11-27) (20-18 O/U) (2-3 O/U L/5 +$80): The Grizz have made ‘over’ backers a couple of units this season, but not last week where three of their five games failed to surpass the closing ‘total’. In fact, five of the Grizzlies last seven games have failed to surpass the closing number even though they allowed four of those seven opponents to hit the 100-point plateau. This leads me to believe that many more losses are in store for this club over the coming months since their offense looks to be running on fumes. The defense, currently ranked 17th allowing just under 100 PPG, will continue to falter if the offense continues to regress like it has over the last couple weeks. The offense will really have to step up this week against Utah and Detroit if it plans on halting its current four-game losing streak.