NBA Standings shake-up: Celtics, Nuggets and LeBron’s Lakers jostle as Curry, Doncic light up the night
02.02.2026 - 20:33:10
The NBA standings tightened again after the latest slate of games, with contenders like the Celtics, Nuggets, Lakers, Mavericks and Warriors all feeling the squeeze as the regular season grind deepens. Between monster stat lines, clutch shots and a few eyebrow-raising no-shows, the playoff picture got a little clearer and a lot more chaotic.
[Check live stats & scores here]
Last night’s drama: stars cooking, standings moving
Every night now feels like a mini playoff test. While Boston continues to profile as the East’s measuring stick behind Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets are doing the same in the West, methodically stacking wins and possessions like a surgeon. Around them, the chasing pack is desperately trying to avoid the Play-In quicksand.
LeBron James and the Lakers have leaned heavily on their veteran star’s playmaking and Anthony Davis’s interior defense to stay in the thick of the Western Conference race. When they get stops, run in transition and LeBron is picking defenses apart, they look like a top-4 seed. When the halfcourt offense bogs down and the threes stop falling, they suddenly look like a Play-In team again.
Steph Curry and the Warriors remain one of the league’s biggest wildcards. On nights when Curry is hot from downtown and the ball is zipping, Golden State can still torch anybody by double digits. But defensive breakdowns and cold shooting stretches have left them hovering in that dangerous middle tier of the standings, where one bad week can send you tumbling into the Play-In race.
Luka Doncic, meanwhile, keeps flirting with video-game lines almost every time out. His usage rate is sky-high, his step-back three remains unguardable, and he is carrying a gigantic offensive load to keep Dallas firmly in the top half of the West playoff bracket. The box scores tell the story: points, rebounds, assists, all stacked with MVP-level consistency.
How the current NBA standings are shaping the playoff race
Zooming out from the nightly highlights, the macro story is clear: separation is coming. A handful of elite teams in each conference are creating a cushion, while an overcrowded middle class is fighting for every inch of ground, one regular-season possession at a time. One three-game win streak can move you up multiple seeds; one bad road trip can shove you into the Play-In.
Here is a compact snapshot of how the top of each conference is positioned right now in the NBA standings, with a focus on the heavy hitters and teams hovering around the Play-In line.
| East Rank | Team | W | L | Games Back |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston Celtics | - | - | – |
| 2 | Milwaukee Bucks | - | - | - |
| 3 | Philadelphia 76ers | - | - | - |
| 4 | New York Knicks | - | - | - |
| 5 | Cleveland Cavaliers | - | - | - |
| 7 | Miami Heat | - | - | - |
| 9 | Chicago Bulls | - | - | - |
| West Rank | Team | W | L | Games Back |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denver Nuggets | - | - | – |
| 2 | Minnesota Timberwolves | - | - | - |
| 3 | Oklahoma City Thunder | - | - | - |
| 4 | Dallas Mavericks | - | - | - |
| 5 | Los Angeles Clippers | - | - | - |
| 7 | Los Angeles Lakers | - | - | - |
| 10 | Golden State Warriors | - | - | - |
Exact win-loss records and games-back numbers shuffle nightly, but the tiers are clear. Boston and Denver are living in the contender penthouse. Milwaukee, Philadelphia and a rising New York group are jostling for home-court advantage in the East. In the West, Minnesota and Oklahoma City have officially graduated from “cute upstarts” to genuine threats, while Dallas and the Clippers are trying to lock down solid playoff seeds.
The Lakers and Warriors are right in the eye of the storm. Their veteran cores know every possession matters from here on out. A blown lead in January or February can end up being the difference between a top-6 seed and a win-or-go-home Play-In game under the brightest lights.
Game highlights and box-score storylines
The latest batch of games brought the usual roller coaster of emotions. Fans saw double-digit comebacks, bench players swinging momentum and role guys stepping into the spotlight when stars sat or struggled. The crunchtime possessions, as always, told the tale.
Boston’s formula remains brutally efficient: elite spacing, Tatum as a three-level scorer and Brown bulldozing his way to the rim. When the Celtics are dialed in defensively, opponents feel like they are trapped in a maze of switching, rotating bodies. The box score often shows a balanced scoring spread, but the eye test screams dominance.
Denver, for its part, keeps riding Jokic’s genius. A typical Jokic line these days looks like something out of a video game: flirting with a triple-double almost every night, picking out backdoor cuts, draining soft-touch jumpers and vacuuming up rebounds. His presence not only anchors the Nuggets offense but stabilizes their late-game execution. Every possession flows through him, and defenses are left choosing between letting him score efficiently or getting carved up by his passing.
LeBron and the Lakers are living on a knife’s edge. When Davis rolls hard, protects the rim and controls the glass, the Lakers can overpower even elite opponents. But when the supporting cast goes cold from three or turns the ball over, LeBron ends up playing heliocentric basketball in his 21st season, forced to manufacture offense late in the clock. Some nights he still looks unstoppable; others, you can feel the mileage.
Golden State continues to yo-yo between exhilarating and exasperating. Curry’s gravity creates wide-open looks all over the floor, but defensive slippage and foul trouble have repeatedly put them behind the eight-ball. The Warriors’ margin for error has shrunk, and it shows in almost every fourth quarter.
MVP race and player stats: Jokic, Doncic, Tatum in the spotlight
The MVP race is turning into a heavyweight battle, and the stat sheets back it up. It is not enough to just score big anymore; the top candidates are impacting every possession, every phase of the game, on both ends.
Nikola Jokic sits firmly on the MVP radar. Night after night, he is racking up around 25-plus points, hauling in double-digit rebounds and dishing 8 to 10 assists, often on absurd shooting efficiency. His Player Stats profile reads like a future Hall of Famer in his prime: sky-high PER, elite on/off numbers and the kind of calm, crunch-time decision-making coaches dream about.
Luka Doncic is right alongside him, dropping massive scoring lines while orchestrating entire offenses out of pick-and-rolls and isolations. It is routine now to see him pile up 30-plus points with close to double-digit assists and strong rebounding from the guard spot. He hunts mismatches, draws help and consistently finds teammates in rhythm, making Dallas one of the most dangerous late-game offenses in the league.
Jayson Tatum is anchoring Boston’s two-way identity. He might not always lead the league in raw counting stats, but the combination of 25-plus points, tough perimeter defense and improved playmaking makes his MVP case very real, especially if the Celtics stay atop the conference. When the ball sticks with him too long, the offense can wobble. When he makes the quick reads and trusts the spacing, Boston looks unbeatable.
On the fringes of the MVP conversation, names like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Joel Embiid continue to post wild box scores of their own. The gap between the top tier and the rest of the league’s stars feels thin. Any extended hot streak or nagging injury could swing the narrative fast.
Injuries, rotations and the playoff picture pressure cooker
Injuries and rotation tweaks are shaping the Playoff Picture just as much as the nightly scores. Coaches are desperately trying to balance rest and rhythm, especially for veterans on teams like the Lakers, Clippers and Warriors. One rolled ankle or tweaked hamstring can suddenly thrust a bench piece into 30-plus minutes and change the trajectory of a week.
Depth is proving to be a separator. Boston, Denver and Oklahoma City can survive off nights from a star because their second units bring energy and structure. Teams with thinner benches cannot afford foul trouble or cold shooting nights, and it shows in the late-game execution where legs get heavy and decisions get slower.
There is also the mental grind. Players quietly admit that the standings are on their minds now. Nobody wants to “waste” a season stuck in the Play-In lottery. Every game feels like a statement: are you a real threat, or just a fun League Pass team waiting to get bounced in April?
What is next: must-watch clashes and standings stakes
All of this sets up a stretch of must-watch games that could swing seeds dramatically. Matchups between the Celtics and other East contenders like the Bucks and 76ers feel like conference finals dress rehearsals. Out West, every time the Nuggets face the Timberwolves, Thunder, Mavericks, Lakers or Warriors, the intensity spikes and the arena feels like it is hosting a Game 5.
For LeBron’s Lakers, the margin for error is tiny. A strong week could vault them safely into the top-6, away from the Play-In chaos. A couple of bad shooting nights or defensive lapses, and they are right back in that sudden-death territory. Golden State’s path is even narrower; they need Curry to stay healthy and hot while the defense regains its old edge.
Boston and Denver, on the other hand, are playing for something subtler but just as critical: rhythm, health and home-court edge. They can afford an occasional off night, but slipping in the NBA standings could mean a tougher second-round path or a conference finals series without that decisive Game 7 in their own building.
The league is entering that part of the calendar when every box score feels like a referendum and every possession shapes the narrative. If you care about the MVP race, the Playoff Picture, or just watching stars like LeBron, Curry, Tatum, Jokic and Doncic trade haymakers, this is the time to lock in.
The only constant is change. The standings will keep shuffling, the stat lines will keep ballooning, and one of these nights, a shot from way downtown or a surprise breakout performance will rewrite the story again.
Stay locked into the official hub for live scores, player stats and full game highlights, and watch how fast this race evolves as teams fight, claw and sprint for position in the NBA standings.
