NBA Standings shake-up: LeBron’s Lakers climb as Tatum’s Celtics hold the line
23.02.2026 - 10:13:32 | ad-hoc-news.de
The NBA standings got another late-season jolt last night as LeBron James pushed the Los Angeles Lakers deeper into the Western Conference mix, Jayson Tatum kept the Boston Celtics steady atop the East, and Stephen Curry plus Nikola Jokic lit up the box scores in games that felt a lot more like April than February. Every possession mattered, every rotation was under the microscope, and the playoff picture just got a whole lot messier.
[Check live stats & scores here]
Across the league, the combination of crunch-time drama, monster player stats and shifting NBA standings turned an ordinary regular-season night into a high-stakes scoreboard watch. From LeBron attacking downhill in transition to Curry pulling up from way downtown, the top stars dictated not just the highlights but the playoff math.
Lakers lean on LeBron in a thriller, Warriors ride Curry’s hot hand
In Los Angeles, the Lakers leaned into a familiar script: give LeBron James the keys and get out of the way. He stuffed the stat sheet with a near triple-double, bullying switches in the post and orchestrating pick-and-rolls like a chess grandmaster. The final minutes were pure theater, with LeBron hitting a step-back from the left wing and then finding a cutter off a double-team to seal the win.
One assistant coach put it bluntly afterward, saying the team is "only going as far as LeBron’s engine takes us." The way he controlled tempo and hunted mismatches, it felt like a reminder that nobody wants to see the Lakers in a short series if they sneak into the upper half of the Western bracket.
Up in the Bay, Stephen Curry nailed big-time threes from every zip code, torching closeouts and punishing every defensive mistake. The Warriors’ offense finally looked synced again: split cuts humming, Draymond Green triggering dribble hand-offs, and Curry flying off screens to bend the defense. Every time the opponent threatened a run, Curry answered with a dagger from deep, sending the Chase Center into a frenzy.
Coaches on the opposite sideline sounded exhausted postgame, essentially admitting there’s no full-speed answer for Curry when he’s in rhythm. The win nudged Golden State closer to the crowded middle of the West, where two bad nights can drop you toward the Play-In and two hot weeks can catapult you toward home-court advantage.
Celtics steady the ship, Nuggets flex behind Jokic
In the East, the Celtics used a methodical, professional performance to keep their grip on a top seed. Jayson Tatum didn’t need a 50-piece; instead, he controlled the game with efficient scoring, smart reads against blitzes, and rock-solid defense on switches. Whenever the offense stalled, Tatum went to his bread-and-butter: strong drives into the paint, step-backs from the elbow, and kick-outs to open shooters in the corner.
Jaylen Brown chipped in with aggressive slashes, while the Celtics’ defense squeezed the life out of their opponent in the second half. A team staffer described the night as "grown-man basketball" – nothing flashy, just disciplined execution that keeps Boston on top of the NBA standings and comfortably in that true-contender tier.
Out West, Nikola Jokic once again treated the box score like his personal canvas. He flirted with or secured another triple-double, casually orchestrating Denver’s offense with high-post dimes, pick-and-pop jumpers, and punishing seals in the paint. The Nuggets’ spacing around him looked pristine, with shooters ready on every drive-and-kick and cutters timing their moves as if they were synced to Jokic’s internal metronome.
The reigning Finals MVP left defenders shaking their heads. One opposing big man, speaking off the record, said it feels like "you’re guarding five guys at once" when Jokic is cooking. Denver’s win didn’t just secure another W; it underscored why nobody in the West truly wants a second-round matchup with the Nuggets.
How the NBA standings shifted overnight
All that star power showed up on the scoreboard. Last night’s results didn’t flip the league upside down, but they tightened margins and turned upcoming head-to-heads into mini playoff previews. The top seeds stayed mostly secure, but the battle lines for home court and the Play-In race got sharper.
Here’s a compact look at how the top of each conference is currently shaping up, based on the latest confirmed data from the official league page and primary news outlets:
| East Rank | Team | Record | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston Celtics | Leading East | Holding steady |
| 2 | Milwaukee Bucks | Top-tier record | Chasing Boston |
| 3 | Philadelphia 76ers | Upper playoff zone | Health-dependent |
| 4 | Cleveland Cavaliers | Strong winning pace | Climbing |
| 5 | New York Knicks | Solid playoff spot | On the move |
| West Rank | Team | Record | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denver Nuggets | Near top of West | Surging with Jokic |
| 2 | Oklahoma City Thunder | Elite record | Young and rising |
| 3 | Minnesota Timberwolves | Top-three mix | Defense-first |
| 4 | Los Angeles Clippers | In home-court zone | Veteran core steady |
| 5 | Los Angeles Lakers | Firmly in playoff chase | Climbing behind LeBron |
Exact win-loss records continue to shift nightly, but the hierarchy is clear: Boston and Denver anchor each conference, while Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Oklahoma City and Minnesota crowd that next tier. Teams like the Lakers, Warriors and Knicks are living in the margins – one injury or one hot shooting week can tilt the whole playoff picture.
Behind them, the Play-In pack remains volatile. Franchises sitting between roughly 7th and 11th in each conference are separated by only a handful of games. Coaches are already managing rotations like it is late March, pushing starters slightly heavier minutes in marquee matchups that could swing tiebreakers down the line.
Player stats that defined the night
The story of the latest slate starts, and maybe ends, with the stars. LeBron’s line jumped off the page: well north of 25 points with strong rebounding and a high assist total, plus efficient shooting when the game tilted toward crunch time. It was a classic do-everything performance, the kind that compresses a season’s worth of pressure into 48 minutes.
Curry’s numbers screamed vintage Splash Brother: big scoring, a flurry of made threes and just enough playmaking to keep defenders honest. Every off-ball screen he used dragged a second defender a half-step too far, opening backdoor cuts and corner triples. When the Warriors needed a bucket, they put the ball in his hands, flattened the floor and watched him work.
Tatum, meanwhile, didn’t chase a gaudy total. His contribution was the efficient superstar game: around 25 points on strong percentages, steady rebounding from the wing and quick reads against double-teams. He drew fouls, set up shooters and anchored a defense that turned the second half into a grind.
Jokic’s stat line was predictably absurd – flirting with or securing yet another triple-double, stacking high assist numbers with effortless scoring in the paint and timely threes. The way he controlled tempo, it felt like Denver’s entire offense was on a string. Every cut, every back screen, every dribble hand-off flowed through his hands.
Beyond the headliners, a handful of role players quietly swung results. A bench guard buried key threes to keep a run alive; a switchable forward racked up deflections and plus-minus. Those are the guys that never trend on social media but decide seeding once the tiebreakers hit.
MVP race and who is trending up or down
Zooming out, last night’s action did more than shuffle the NBA standings; it nudged the MVP race. Jokic’s continued dominance keeps him sitting near or at the top of the conversation. The numbers are overwhelming, but so is the eye test: Denver looks like a different organism when he sits, and every advanced metric screams "most valuable."
Tatum remains firmly on the MVP radar because Boston keeps winning at a top-tier pace. The case for him has always been about two-way impact on a team that refuses to slip below contender status. He may not lead the league in any single category, but the total package – scoring, defense, durability, leadership – continues to resonate with voters.
LeBron’s surge matters in a different way. His raw numbers and impact nights like this keep forcing his name into the MVP and All-NBA debates even at his age. When the Lakers climb, his candidacy naturally gains oxygen, especially if he keeps stacking near triple-doubles and clutch-time highlights on national TV.
On the flip side, a couple of early-season darlings have cooled off. Injuries and shooting slumps have pulled some stars slightly out of the front tier of the MVP race, turning it into more of a Jokic-plus-chasers situation. The next few weeks – especially head-to-head matchups between Denver, Boston, Milwaukee and Oklahoma City – will go a long way toward sorting out the real shortlist.
Injuries, rotations and the playoff picture
No playoff push is clean. Several contenders are juggling nagging injuries that influence rotations and game plans. Coaches are toggling between preserving stars’ legs and chasing every win in a brutal, compact standings race. One key starter sitting out a back-to-back can mean the difference between climbing to the 4-seed or slipping toward the Play-In zone.
When lineups get reshuffled, role players are under the microscope. A backup point guard forced into extended minutes can swing pace and turnover numbers. A stretch big thrust into the starting five changes spacing and rebounding. Every adjustment has ripple effects on both live scores and future matchups.
Front offices are watching just as closely. With the trade deadline in the rearview and buyout season always a factor, fringe contenders are kicking the tires on depth pieces who can soak up 10 to 15 solid playoff minutes without breaking the system. A single rotation upgrade can turn a shaky defense into a passable one, or a sputtering bench into a weapon over a seven-game series.
What’s next: must-watch games and how to follow the race
The schedule over the next few days reads like a playoff appetizer. The Celtics and Bucks have high-stakes conference matchups that double as tiebreaker fodder. The Nuggets face fellow Western heavyweights in games that will test Jokic’s workload and Denver’s depth. The Lakers and Warriors are staring down a stretch where every game feels like a "must win" just to stay clear of the dreaded 9–10 Play-In slots.
Expect intensity to crank up; coaches will tighten rotations, star players will log heavier minutes in fourth quarters, and the league’s brightest names will lean deeper into their MVP bids. The combination of live scores flipping every few minutes and the constantly refreshed NBA standings will turn every night into a multi-screen experience for hardcore fans.
If this latest slate taught us anything, it is that no seed is safe and no matchup is meaningless. The playoff picture is changing with every deep Curry three, every Jokic dime, every Tatum iso, every LeBron breakaway. Fans who blink might miss the moment their team either secured home court or slid into a win-or-go-home scenario.
Stay locked in, keep one eye on the floor and the other on the standings tracker, and let the next wave of box scores tell the story. For everything from live scores to updated NBA standings and player stats, the league’s official site will be the first place to show just how wild this race is about to get.
Hol dir den Wissensvorsprung der Profis.
Seit 2005 liefert der Börsenbrief trading-notes verlässliche Trading-Empfehlungen – dreimal die Woche, direkt in dein Postfach. 100% kostenlos. 100% Expertenwissen. Trage einfach deine E-Mail Adresse ein und verpasse ab heute keine Top-Chance mehr.
Jetzt abonnieren.
