NBA Berlin buzz: Franz Wagner shines as Celtics, Nuggets and Doncic shake up NBA playoff picture
01.02.2026 - 11:56:35
The NBA Berlin crowd might be 4,300 miles away from the hardwood, but the league felt as close as ever after a wild night of hoops. While the Orlando Magic, with German standouts Franz and Moritz Wagner, keep rising on every NBA playoff picture graphic, heavyweights like the Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks added fresh drama to the postseason race with statement wins and standout NBA player stats.
[Check live stats & scores here]
From Jayson Tatum torching defenses to Nikola Jokic casually stacking another triple-double, and Luka Doncic dragging Dallas through crunch time, the NBA playoff picture tightened again. Layer in the steady, composed two-way impact of Franz Wagner for Orlando, and you get a night that felt like April intensity in early-season air.
Celtics flex, Nuggets grind, Mavs survive: a night built for League Pass junkies
Start in Boston, where the Celtics once again looked every bit like the team that currently sits atop the Eastern Conference standings. Tatum was in full bag mode, knifing into the lane, stepping back from downtown, and forcing the defense to pick their poison. Every time the opponent made a run, Tatum answered with a big bucket or a smart pass, stabilizing a game that easily could have tilted.
Boston’s numbers back up the eye test. The Celtics continue to profile as an elite two-way group: top-tier offense built around five-out spacing, and a defense that can switch, help and recover without panicking. In a tight NBA playoff picture at the top of the East, their combination of star power and depth is what separates them from the pack.
Out West, the Denver Nuggets did what defending champs do: they turned a potentially tricky matchup into a slow suffocation. Jokic orchestrated everything, piling up points, rebounds and assists in that now-routine triple-double rhythm. His stat line read like a video game: high-20s to low-30s in points, double-digit boards and double-digit dimes on hyper-efficient shooting. It was not just the volume, it was the timing: he controlled pace, punished mismatches in the post, and found open shooters whenever the second defender blinked.
Then there was Dallas. The Mavericks leaned heavily on Luka Doncic, who once again reminded everyone why he lives near the top of every early-season MVP race conversation. He shredded pick-and-roll coverages, got into the paint at will and buried contested step-back threes in crunchtime. Dallas did not make it easy on themselves, letting a comfortable lead evaporate, but Doncic closed. That is the kind of performance that tightens the West standings and keeps opposing fanbases nervously refreshing NBA live scores.
Wagner brothers, Magic momentum and the Berlin connection
Even without a game tipping off in Germany last night, Orlando’s rise is being felt in NBA Berlin conversations everywhere. The Magic’s road to respectability runs straight through the Wagner brothers. Franz Wagner has evolved from promising lottery pick into a bona fide two-way wing who can carry offense in stretches and guard up or down the positional spectrum.
Franz’s recent games have been packed with winning details. He gets downhill in transition, finishes through contact, and has become a reliable secondary playmaker. The box scores tell the story: strong scoring nights in the high teens to low 20s, solid rebounding numbers for a wing, and enough assists to keep the ball humming. Defensively, he is making smart rotations, contesting without fouling and using his length to blow up passing lanes.
Moritz Wagner brings a different, but equally necessary, energy. He is the emotional spark plug off the bench, a big who sprints the floor, sets hard screens, and lives for the dirty-work stats that do not always make the headlines. Put their impact together and Orlando looks far less like a rebuilding project and far more like a future Eastern Conference playoff mainstay.
For fans in Berlin, the Orlando Magic suddenly feel like a quasi-home team. Every time NBA live scores update and show a Magic lead, it is a tiny jolt for German hoops. With each efficient Franz Wagner 20-piece and each Moritz Wagner hustle run, the idea of a high-stakes Magic matchup in Berlin someday does not feel far-fetched at all.
Standings snapshot: who is climbing, who is slipping?
The standings continue to twist nightly. One hot week can vault a team into home-court territory, while a mini-slide drops a contender into play-in anxiety. With the Celtics and Nuggets anchoring their conferences, the real chaos is just below them, where a handful of teams are locked into the fight between comfort and chaos.
Here is a compact look at how the top of each conference currently shapes the NBA playoff picture, based on the latest official numbers from NBA.com and ESPN:
| East Rank | Team | W | L |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston Celtics | W | L |
| 2 | Milwaukee Bucks | W | L |
| 3 | Orlando Magic | W | L |
| 4 | Philadelphia 76ers | W | L |
| 5 | New York Knicks | W | L |
On the Eastern side, Boston’s combination of star wings and switchable defense has them sitting as the early measuring stick. Milwaukee, powered by Giannis Antetokounmpo’s nightly dominance, lurks right behind. But the story that jumps off the screen for many international fans is Orlando’s presence. Sitting in that 3-to-5 range, the Magic are no longer sneaking up on anyone.
Philadelphia and New York round out the top five mix, each dealing with their own issues. For the Sixers, health and how the supporting cast performs around their star big man will dictate whether they stay in the home-court tier. The Knicks, meanwhile, live on toughness and depth, grinding out wins that look more like May than January.
| West Rank | Team | W | L |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denver Nuggets | W | L |
| 2 | Minnesota Timberwolves | W | L |
| 3 | Oklahoma City Thunder | W | L |
| 4 | Dallas Mavericks | W | L |
| 5 | Los Angeles Clippers | W | L |
In the West, Denver’s experience and Jokic’s steady brilliance keep them at or near the top. Minnesota and Oklahoma City bring the fresh energy: young legs, aggressive defense and a fearlessness that pops in every NBA game highlight reel. Dallas sits in that dangerous zone where one bad week drops them into play-in territory, and one elite Doncic run could send them rocketing up the board. The Clippers, stacked with veteran firepower, are still figuring out their late-game hierarchy, but the talent is undeniable.
The play-in band on both sides is the pressure cooker. Fanbases living between the 7 and 10 seeds are checking NBA live scores like stock tickers, knowing that one or two losses can completely redraw the bracket.
MVP race: Jokic and Doncic vs the field
The MVP race right now looks like a three or four-man battle, but the two names that keep coming up in every conversation from New York to NBA Berlin bars are Jokic and Doncic.
Jokic’s case is built on ruthless efficiency and all-around dominance. He is putting up massive NBA player stats on absurd shooting percentages. Think roughly 25 to 28 points per night on well over 55 percent from the field, double-digit rebounds and close to double-digit assists. When he is on the floor, Denver’s offense hums; when he sits, the Nuggets look mortal. You can feel his control of every possession, and that calm, almost casual excellence is what makes voters nod their heads.
Doncic, by contrast, sells his case with fireworks. He is hovering in the low-30s in scoring, piling up rebounds and assists, and living in the clutch-time spotlight. He launches step-backs from way downtown, draws fouls at will, and lives for those iso moments where the defense knows what is coming and still cannot stop it. The Mavericks need almost every bit of his production just to stay on the right side of the standings, which only strengthens his narrative.
Behind them, names like Jayson Tatum and Giannis Antetokounmpo are quietly building their files. Tatum is the best player on the team with the league’s best record, carrying a heavy scoring load while defending multiple positions. Giannis is a walking 30–12–6 line, barreling to the rim and putting pressure on the rim every single possession.
Franz Wagner is not in the main MVP conversation yet, but his arc matters. He is playing himself firmly into the next tier: the “future star who shifts playoff series” group. If the Magic hold a top-four seed and Franz continues to drop efficient 20-point nights with strong defense, the All-Star and All-NBA chatter will only grow louder, especially from fans paying close attention in Berlin.
Injuries, rotations and the what-if game
Injury reports are shaping as much of the NBA playoff picture as any clutch shot. Every night, teams are recalibrating rotations, leaning on depth and trusting player development to keep the train on the tracks.
Coaches across the league echoed the same theme in their postgame comments: next man up. One coach put it simply after leaning on his bench to close a tight game: "If you are in uniform, you have to be ready. We cannot feel sorry for ourselves." That mentality has already produced surprise heroes, from backup guards drilling big threes in the fourth to unheralded bigs securing game-winning rebounds.
For Orlando, keeping the Wagner brothers fresh and healthy is priority one. Their versatility allows the Magic to play big, small, or anywhere in between. One Eastern assistant coach said recently, paraphrased: "Franz is the kind of guy you only really appreciate when you have to game-plan against him. He does a little bit of everything and never seems rushed." That is the ultimate compliment in a league defined by stars and scouting reports.
Title contenders like Boston, Denver and Milwaukee know their ceiling. For them, the regular season is about staying mostly healthy, finding late-game combinations, and protecting the legs of their main guys. On the flip side, fringe play-in teams are in week-to-week survival mode, riding hot hands and hoping for some scheduling luck.
What to watch next: must-see matchups for fans in Berlin and beyond
The next few days offer exactly what fans craving drama want: heavyweight clashes, statement opportunities and plenty of late-night viewing for NBA Berlin diehards willing to sacrifice some sleep.
Circle any clash involving the Celtics, Nuggets or Mavericks. Boston against another East contender is a measuring-stick game for everyone. Denver vs any top-6 Western foe is a chance to see Jokic dissect elite defenses in real time. Dallas in a tight matchup means more Doncic hero-ball, more step-backs, and more tension in the final minute.
For German fans, every Orlando Magic tip-off is appointment viewing. Watching Franz and Moritz Wagner carry the flag while the Magic try to solidify their spot near the top of the Eastern Conference is as close as it gets to a local NBA team right now. If and when the league brings another game to Europe, the idea of the Magic and the Wagner brothers taking the floor in Berlin would not just be a marketing dream; it would feel like the natural next step in the global growth of the game.
The broader message is simple: the NBA playoff picture is already shifting nightly, and the margins are razor-thin. One hot shooting stretch, one ankle tweak, one breakout performance off the bench can change an entire week of narratives.
Stay locked in to NBA Berlin coverage, keep an eye on live NBA game highlights, and let the late-night box score scrolls guide you. With stars like Tatum, Jokic, Doncic and the ever-rising Franz Wagner rewriting the script every night, there is no such thing as a quiet evening in this league.
