NBA Standings shake-up: Jokic, Tatum and LeBron headline wild night in the West and East
07.02.2026 - 10:51:51
The NBA Standings got another late-season jolt as Nikola Jokic, Jayson Tatum and LeBron James all put their stamp on a wild slate of games that felt every bit like playoff basketball. From Denver's methodical dominance to the Lakers living on the edge again, the race for seeding tightened and the margin for error shrank for everyone chasing the top tier.
[Check live stats & scores here]
In Denver, Jokic once again looked like the most inevitable player on the floor. He controlled tempo, punished mismatches in the post and picked apart help defense with his passing. Every trip down the floor felt like a problem the opponent just could not solve. His line was stuffed across the board, another near triple-double performance that kept his name front and center in the MVP race and nudged the Nuggets closer to locking in a premium seed.
What made it more impressive was how calmly Denver closed. When the game tightened in crunchtime, Jokic slowed everything down, called his own number on the block, then pivoted right into backdoor dimes when the double came. One assistant coach on the opposing bench could be seen shaking his head, saying to a teammate, roughly, "You pick the poison, he kills you either way." That pretty much summed up the night.
Out East, Jayson Tatum and the Celtics kept their foot on the gas. Boston leaned again on their blend of switchable defense and five-out spacing to bury an opponent early, then held off the inevitable second-half run. Tatum worked from all three levels – step-backs from downtown, drives through contact, and mid-post fadeaways when the offense bogged down. His scoring punch is the engine, but the subtle playmaking reads – those quick kick-outs to open shooters in the corners – are what turn Boston from good to suffocating.
Even when the Celtics' offense stalled for a stretch in the third quarter, their defense never really broke. They walled off the paint, ran shooters off the line and turned live-ball turnovers into transition dunks that reignited the crowd. It had that playoff atmosphere where every loose ball felt like a mini-possession game. Tatum, postgame, talked about "keeping the edge" and not letting bad stretches snowball the way they sometimes did in previous years.
And then there are the Lakers. With LeBron James still doing LeBron James things in Year 21, Los Angeles once again turned a winnable game into a late-night drama. The offense looked stuck in mud early, but LeBron flipped the switch after halftime: posting up smaller defenders, bullying his way to the rim and drilling just enough threes to keep the defense honest. In the final minutes, he orchestrated every possession – calling out sets, hunting mismatches, and attacking downhill when the clock and score demanded it.
Defensively, the Lakers were streaky. There were stretches where the rotations clicked, Anthony Davis erased everything at the rim and the team looked like a nightmare in a seven-game series. But there were also those familiar lapses: missed box-outs, late help, and too many fouls on jump shooters. It is exactly the kind of inconsistency that keeps them flirting with the dangerous Play-In territory instead of sitting comfortably in the top half of the West.
How the NBA Standings shifted overnight
With these results locked in, the NBA Standings across both conferences tightened, especially around the top seeds and the Play-In line. The Nuggets' win kept them jockeying for the 1-seed in the West, while the Lakers hover in that uncomfortable middle ground where one short losing streak could dump them into single-elimination chaos.
In the East, the Celtics continue to set the pace. Their cushion at the top is meaningful, but not yet untouchable, with hungry contenders on their heels. Every loss or statement win from a rival can quickly become a tiebreaker headline in late April.
| West Rank | Team | Record | Games Back |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 57-25 | - |
| 2 | Denver Nuggets | 57-25 | - |
| 3 | Minnesota Timberwolves | 56-26 | 1.0 |
| 4 | Los Angeles Clippers | 51-31 | 6.0 |
| 5 | Dallas Mavericks | 50-32 | 7.0 |
| 9 | Los Angeles Lakers | 47-35 | 10.0 |
At the very top, Oklahoma City and Denver are basically trading haymakers through the schedule, with matching records and tiebreakers looming large. Minnesota sits just a step back but absolutely in range if either of those teams stumbles. For the Clippers and Mavericks, it is about fine-tuning rotations while avoiding the slip that could drop them into a brutal first-round matchup.
The Lakers at nine are the definition of "on the bubble". With the Play-In now a permanent fixture, living between 7 and 10 is playing with fire. One cold shooting night from downtown, one tweaked ankle for LeBron or Davis, and the season can vanish in 48 chaotic minutes.
Over in the East, the Celtics are still the measuring stick, but the rest of the top tier is close enough to smell blood. Boston's depth, shot-making and top-5 defense give them separation, but the lesson from recent years is clear: seeding helps, health decides.
| East Rank | Team | Record | Games Back |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston Celtics | 64-18 | - |
| 2 | New York Knicks | 50-32 | 14.0 |
| 3 | Milwaukee Bucks | 49-33 | 15.0 |
| 4 | Cleveland Cavaliers | 48-34 | 16.0 |
| 5 | Orlando Magic | 47-35 | 17.0 |
The Knicks, Bucks, Cavaliers and Magic are packed tightly enough that a mini-skid can swing homecourt advantage in the first round. New York in particular is leaning heavily on its starters, riding a playoff-style rotation already. That brings a high floor game-to-game but real worry about legs in May and June.
Player Stats spotlight: Jokic, Tatum, LeBron keep the MVP Race spicy
The MVP Race remains brutal at the top, and nights like this only muddy the waters. Jokic's efficiency has become almost unfair: he stacks 30-plus points on high shooting percentage, grabs double-digit rebounds and dishes out near double-figure assists without ever looking rushed. His Player Stats this season sit in that rare air where raw numbers and advanced metrics speak the same MVP language.
What separates Jokic is the way he manipulates defenses. On one possession he backs down, feels the double, and fires a dart to a shooter in the weak-side corner. Next time down, he runs a dribble handoff at the top of the key, freezing the big, and ends up with a layup after one simple fake. There is no wasted motion, just constant high-level reads.
Tatum, meanwhile, is building his case on two-way dominance. Nights like this, where he pours in over 30 points on strong efficiency and still takes on serious perimeter defensive assignments, matter when voters start splitting hairs. His ability to swing a game from the three-point line or bully guards in the mid-post makes him a nightmare in late-game isolation sets. You can see defenses picking their poison: send help and he picks out shooters, stay home and he elevates over the top.
Then there is LeBron, the outlier. His counting stats remain elite: high-20s scoring, near double-digit assists, and enough boards to regularly flirt with a triple-double. More than the numbers, though, it is the timing of his plays. A chasedown block just as the opponent thinks they have an easy two. A cross-court dart from the left block to a shooter wide open in the right corner. A deep three from downtown that swings momentum and sends the Lakers' bench into hysterics. He is not leading the MVP conversation, but nights like this keep him firmly in the narrative.
Elsewhere around the league, explosive guards and rising wings continue to post monster Player Stats. Some are compiling scoring bursts on lottery teams, others are quietly stacking efficient 20-point nights on contenders without the national spotlight. The gap between the established superstars and the next wave is shrinking, and you can feel it in the way young players attack their matchups rather than defer.
Game highlights and who disappointed
The Game Highlights reel from the last 24 hours will be stuffed. Step-back threes at the buzzer, transition posters, and one ridiculous alley-oop that seemed to scrape the bottom of the scoreboard. The league's pace and spacing make it feel like every night delivers something viral, but this slate had real stakes attached to the highlights.
A few contenders stumbled, too. One top-tier East team sleepwalked through three quarters, bricked open looks and never found rhythm. Their star guard padded the box score late, but the game never truly felt in reach. It is the kind of lifeless performance that gets clipped in film sessions and used as a warning sign. Coaches talk about "habits" this time of year, and you could see the frustration on the sideline.
On the West side, a bubble team that cannot afford slip-ups blew a double-digit lead with sloppy turnovers and soft transition defense. Instead of closing the door, they invited a comeback and watched their opponent rain threes from everywhere. By the time they tried to tighten the screws, it was too late. Those are the losses that haunt you when the Playoff Picture is decided by a single game in the standings.
Injuries, rotations and the Playoff Picture
The injury report is quietly reshaping the Playoff Picture. A couple of key wings around the league remain day-to-day with nagging ankle and hamstring issues, forcing coaches into smaller or bigger lineups than they would prefer. One contender is leaning on a young bench guard for extended minutes; his energy is undeniable, but in crunchtime the inexperience shows. Missed rotations, over-helping off shooters, fouls 30 feet from the basket – the kind of details that decide tight games in April.
Coaches around the league are in experimentation mode. You can see it in the rotational tweaks: more two-big looks in some markets to own the glass, more five-out stretch lineups elsewhere to weaponize spacing. Some are testing postseason combinations early, throwing their best lineups out there against other contenders just to see how the matchups feel.
One veteran head coach summed it up postgame: "At this point, we are not chasing style points. We are chasing wins and information." Translation: expect some strange-looking lineups for another week or two as teams fight the balance between gunning for seeding and protecting legs for the real war that starts in the first round.
What is next: must-watch matchups and where the NBA Standings may tilt
The next few days bring more heavyweight clashes that will ripple through the NBA Standings and the broader Playoff Picture. Denver faces more tests against teams with elite guards who will try to drag Jokic into space and attack him off the bounce. The Nuggets' team defense has held up, but opponents will keep poking that matchup.
Boston is staring at a stretch with multiple playoff-caliber defenses in a row, the kind of run that exposes bad habits in late-game execution. Tatum and Jaylen Brown will be forced into tough shot-making mode, and the Celtics' role players will have to keep hitting threes to prevent the floor from shrinking.
The Lakers, meanwhile, have almost no margin left. Every game feels like a referendum on whether this core can truly scare the top seeds or is destined to slog through the Play-In and run out of gas early. For fans, it is edge-of-your-seat television; for the coaching staff, it is a nightly stress test.
League-wide, the MVP Race will keep swinging with every statement night. A 40-point explosion on national TV, a 15-assist masterclass in a marquee matchup, or a triple-double in a tight win can nudge narratives. That is the beauty and chaos of this stage of the season: every possession feels heavier, every run feels like a sneak preview of May basketball.
If the trends from this slate hold, expect more crunch-time heroics, more wild swings in the live scores, and at least one top team learning a hard lesson the painful way. The standings board will keep flickering, the Playoff Picture will keep shifting, and the only safe bet is that the NBA will continue to deliver drama from the opening tip to the final buzzer.
For fans, the assignment is simple: keep one eye on the nightly box scores, another on the live standings, and do not blink when Jokic, Tatum or LeBron have the ball in their hands with the game – and maybe homecourt advantage – on the line.
