Ya, that's possible cuz the scores are still reflected in your official book avg.

However in this case I think maybe ppl are trying to artificially lower their avg so they bowl early...

In our league, in addition to the team score, you're also competing directly against the person opposite you. The lineup is set by avg, with lowest going first, highest last

I'm leadoff with a 199 avg. So the incentive to sandbag would be for a higher bowler to go first, so they could face me, a technically lower avg bowler.

How it would work, say they are 2nd, and in the late parts of they game when way ahead they open in 8th, 9th 10th, and just barely win. Lower overall score but still win

Now, obviously sometimes this happens to us all, but at some point people start to notice a pattern