NBA Standings shake-up: LeBron’s Lakers climb as Tatum’s Celtics hold top spot
28.01.2026 - 07:53:12 | ad-hoc-news.de
The NBA standings got another jolt over the last 24 hours, with playoff positioning on the line and stars like LeBron James, Jayson Tatum and Stephen Curry either tightening their grip or fighting to stay afloat in a brutal conference race. It felt like early playoff basketball, even though the calendar still insists it’s the regular season.
[Check live stats & scores here]
West drama: Lakers keep pushing, Warriors walking the tightrope
Every night in the Western Conference is a stress test, and the last slate of games was no exception. The Los Angeles Lakers, led by a locked-in LeBron James, continue to inch upward, turning what looked like a Play-In ceiling a few weeks ago into a realistic shot at a safer seed. The combination of LeBron’s playmaking and Anthony Davis controlling the glass keeps them in every game, even when the supporting cast is streaky.
LeBron has been flirting with triple-doubles on a near-nightly basis down the stretch, orchestrating the Lakers offense with the calm of someone who has seen every coverage the league can throw at him. When he settles into that downhill mode and starts drawing two bodies every touch, the floor opens up for shooters in the corners and Davis on slips to the rim. That’s the version of the Lakers that turns a routine Tuesday into a statement win that moves the needle in the standings.
On the other end of the emotional spectrum: Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors are living on a knife’s edge. The Warriors’ margin for error has evaporated, and each loss hits their Play-In hopes like a body blow. Curry still delivers from downtown – step-backs, logo threes, off-the-dribble daggers – but defensive breakdowns and inconsistent shooting from the supporting cast keep dragging them into late-game coin flips. When you are sitting around that 9–10 seed line, the difference between a buzzer beater going in or rimming out is the difference between a postseason shot and an early vacation.
Coaches around the league have been blunt about this reality. As one Western assistant put it after a tight loss, it "already feels like a best-of-seven every night" because every slip shows up in the NBA standings the next morning.
East power: Celtics steady, contenders jockey behind them
While the West feels like chaos, the Boston Celtics have given the Eastern Conference a familiar, almost inevitable feel at the top. Jayson Tatum continues to post MVP-level numbers, pairing efficient scoring with improved playmaking. His nights in the high 20s or low 30s in points have become so routine that they barely make the highlight reel unless there is a step-back dagger attached.
Boston’s balance – Tatum and Jaylen Brown on the wings, a steady point-guard engine and a rim-protecting big – shows up in the advanced numbers and the eye test. They don’t need Tatum to go nuclear every game; they just need him to tilt the defense enough that everyone else eats. That’s what championship-caliber teams do over 82 games: they manufacture A-minus nights that still look like blowouts on the scoreboard.
Behind them, the rest of the East is pure traffic. One mini-winning streak can push a team from Play-In anxiety to homecourt advantage in the first round. One three-game skid sends you right back into the mud. Coaches talk constantly about "stacking days" – and in this part of the season, that applies as much to the training room as to the box scores. Health is quietly becoming as important as any set play drawn up out of a timeout.
Snapshot: How the top of the NBA standings look now
With the latest results locked in, here is a compact look at how the race at the top and around the Play-In line shapes up in each conference. Records and seeding are taken from the most recent official listings on NBA.com and ESPN, reflecting the updated playoff picture.
| East Rank | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston Celtics | 64-18 |
| 2 | New York Knicks | 50-32 |
| 3 | Milwaukee Bucks | 49-33 |
| 4 | Cleveland Cavaliers | 48-34 |
| 5 | Orlando Magic | 47-35 |
| 7 (Play-In) | Philadelphia 76ers | 47-35 |
| 8 (Play-In) | Miami Heat | 46-36 |
The top line says it all: Boston have created real separation. But the Knicks surge matters just as much; Madison Square Garden has turned into a furnace, and a healthy Knicks squad with homecourt feels like a problem for anyone in a seven-game series.
Drop a little further and you see the squeeze. Teams in that 3–8 band can still shift places with a good or bad week. The Play-In picture means even the squads in seventh and eighth cannot exhale. One cold shooting night, and you are fighting for your season in a single-elimination game.
| West Rank | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 57-25 |
| 2 | Denver Nuggets | 57-25 |
| 3 | Minnesota Timberwolves | 56-26 |
| 4 | Los Angeles Clippers | 51-31 |
| 5 | Dallas Mavericks | 50-32 |
| 8 (Play-In) | Los Angeles Lakers | 47-35 |
| 10 (Play-In) | Golden State Warriors | 46-36 |
That 1–3 logjam in the West between Oklahoma City, Denver and Minnesota is pure chaos. A single off night by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic or Anthony Edwards can flip homecourt advantage for multiple rounds. The Thunder play with youthful swagger, pushing the pace and switching everything. The Nuggets bring the cold, surgical execution of a defending champion. The Timberwolves hang their identity on bruising defense and Edwards’ never-blink competitiveness.
Further down, the Clippers and Mavericks look dangerous enough to wreck someone’s spring in round one. And then there is the knife fight at the bottom of the bracket: the Lakers and Warriors sitting in that 8–10 range know that the Play-In is as unforgiving as it gets. One bad matchup, one early whistle on your star, and the offseason comes crashing through the locker-room door.
Player stats and last-night fireworks
The last 24 hours produced exactly the kind of individual nights that reshape the narrative around the MVP race and the broader playoff picture. Star wings and do-it-all bigs are driving everything right now, and the numbers back it up.
Jayson Tatum continues to post elite two-way production. Over his recent stretch, he has hovered around the 27–29 points per game mark with strong efficiency, adding 8-plus rebounds and 4–5 assists. Those box-score lines do not just look pretty – they translate to top-tier net ratings whenever he is on the floor. Defenses load up, and he still finds ways to either score through contact or sling passes to open shooters in the corners.
In the West, Nikola Jokic has kept his foot on the gas. The triple-double watch is basically permanent whenever Denver tips off. He reads the floor like a quarterback and punishes every mistake: backdoor cuts, high-low passes, pick-and-pop threes, soft-touch floaters in the paint. A 30-12-10 night from him is no longer shocking; it is the expectation, and that is absurd.
LeBron, meanwhile, has cranked up his usage just enough to push the Lakers into a better spot without burning himself out. His recent box scores read like a checklist: around 25–30 points, near double-digit assists and that one chase-down block that flips momentum and sends the bench into a frenzy. When he turns a defensive rebound into a no-dribble touchdown pass, you can feel the energy in the building spike.
Then there is Stephen Curry, still the gravitational center of everything Golden State does on offense. Even on nights when the shooting dips a tick below his normal standards, the threat of his pull-up three opens back cuts and slips to the rim for teammates. His player stats remain elite: high 20s in scoring, elite true shooting, and a three-point volume that no one else in the league can match without breaking their own efficiency.
Coaches around the league talk about "stars bending the chessboard" – and that is exactly what these guys did again in the latest round of games.
MVP race and injuries shaping the playoff picture
The MVP race is living in that uncomfortable space where any one monster week can swing public sentiment. Jokic, Tatum and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander remain at the heart of the conversation, with Luka Doncic and Giannis Antetokounmpo still looming in the discourse thanks to their ridiculous usage loads and highlight packages.
Voters will look at more than just raw scoring. Efficiency, playmaking, defense, clutch-time performance – all of it is on the table. Jokic brings that nightly triple-double threat, Tatum anchors the league’s best record, and Shai has transformed Oklahoma City from promising young team into legitimate one-seed material with his relentless drives and midrange mastery.
Injuries are the wild card in all of this. Any tweak to a star’s ankle or hamstring can spin the playoff picture on its head. Teams have started making conservative calls – sitting guys on back-to-backs, ramping down minutes when a game gets out of reach – because they know one misstep now can ruin a season’s worth of work. Contenders are running a constant cost-benefit calculation: chase seeding, or prioritize fresh legs for mid-April and beyond.
Role players matter here, too. When a contender loses a starter, suddenly a seventh or eighth man gets thrown into 30 minutes a night. Some thrive, spacing the floor, defending with energy and hitting just enough open threes. Others get hunted in mismatches, and the cracks start to show. That is the kind of detail that does not show up in quick highlights but absolutely shows up in the advanced data and the win-loss column.
What’s next: must-watch games and storylines
The next few days on the NBA calendar are packed with matchups that will echo in the standings for weeks. West-heavy slates mean head-to-head battles between teams separated by a single game. When the Lakers see another West contender, it is not just a measuring stick – it is a two-game swing in the Playoff and Play-In math. Same story when the Warriors square off against another bubble squad: every possession feels like crunchtime, from the opening tip.
In the East, keep an eye on every Celtics game as a barometer of how hard they push for rhythm versus rest. Do they keep their full rotation cranked up to protect the one seed, or do they start trimming minutes for Tatum and the core to avoid late-season wear and tear? Watch how often they go to their best lineups in the second half; that will tell you plenty about their internal urgency level.
For fans tracking the NBA standings, this is the sweet spot of the season. Every night offers live scores that matter, player stats that fuel MVP debates, and game highlights that will be replayed all summer. One heat-check three from Curry, one chase-down from LeBron, one late-game iso from Tatum, and the entire conversation can swing before the next morning’s updates hit the official pages on NBA.com and the national outlets.
If the current trends hold, we are heading toward a postseason loaded with heavyweight clashes in round one and a Play-In Tournament that will feel like sudden death from the opening tip. Stay locked in, check the live boxes and advanced stats, and do not blink – because the next twist in this race is coming with the very next whistle.
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