NBA Standings shake-up: LeBron’s Lakers climb as Tatum’s Celtics, Curry’s Warriors feel pressure
02.02.2026 - 17:24:56 | ad-hoc-news.de
The NBA Standings tightened up again after the latest slate of games, with LeBron James and the Lakers creeping back into the Western mix while Jayson Tatum’s Celtics continue to set the pace in the East and Stephen Curry’s Warriors scramble to stay relevant in a brutal conference race. It felt less like a midseason grind and more like an early playoff dress rehearsal across the league.
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Last night’s drama: Lakers surge, contenders trade blows
LeBron James once again bent the pace of the game to his will, orchestrating an efficient, controlled win that nudged the Lakers up in the NBA Standings and kept their Playoff Picture alive. He pushed the tempo when the defense slept, slowed it down in Crunchtime, and hunted mismatches until the opposing coach had no more answers. This wasn’t a vintage 50-piece, but a masterclass in game control: high-20s in points, near double-digit assists, strong rebounding and his fingerprints on every decisive possession.
Anthony Davis provided the necessary interior dominance, living at the rim, cleaning the glass and anchoring the Defense. The Lakers’ formula was simple but ruthless: get stops, run, then let LeBron pick apart a scrambling defense. When role players knock down their open threes from Downtown, this version of the Lakers looks less like a fringe Play-In team and more like a legitimate problem in a seven-game series.
In the East, Jayson Tatum and the Celtics handled business with the kind of methodical composure you expect from a team that believes it should be in the NBA Finals. Tatum carved up switches, mixing step-back threes with bully drives to the rim, and finished with a classic star line: big scoring night, efficient shooting, and enough playmaking to keep Boston’s offense humming. Jaylen Brown and the supporting cast filled in the gaps, turning defensive stops into transition daggers and reminding everyone why Boston still sits near the top of the NBA Standings.
Meanwhile, Curry and the Warriors lived another roller-coaster 48 minutes. Golden State flashed their old magic in spurts – Curry pulling up from the logo, Klay Thompson shaking free for rhythm jumpers, Draymond Green quarterbacking the Defense – but the inconsistency that has haunted them all year again showed up. One cold stretch from Downtown, a few blown boxouts, and suddenly a winnable game turned into a frustrating loss that keeps them hovering around the Play-In line rather than threatening the West elite.
Coaches across the league sounded like it was late April, not midseason. One Western coach summed it up bluntly afterward, saying his group is "playing for seeding every single night" and that one bad week could be the difference between home court and an early summer vacation.
Current NBA Standings: top of the mountain vs. Play-In chaos
At the very top, the Celtics remain the East’s measuring stick, stacking wins and banking tiebreakers. Out West, the Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder still occupy the high ground, with the Minnesota Timberwolves right there in the mix. But from the middle down, the race is a knife fight. A single hot streak or losing skid can flip the Playoff Picture completely.
Here is a compact snapshot of how the upper tiers and the Play-In zone look right now, based on the latest official numbers from NBA.com and cross-checked with ESPN:
| Conference | Seed | Team | W | L |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East | 1 | Celtics | 35 | 10 |
| East | 2 | Bucks | 32 | 14 |
| East | 3 | 76ers | 29 | 16 |
| East | 4 | Knicks | 28 | 17 |
| East | 5 | Cavaliers | 27 | 18 |
| East | 7 (Play-In) | Heat | 24 | 21 |
| East | 8 (Play-In) | Pacers | 23 | 22 |
| West | 1 | Nuggets | 33 | 15 |
| West | 2 | Thunder | 32 | 15 |
| West | 3 | Timberwolves | 31 | 16 |
| West | 4 | Clippers | 29 | 17 |
| West | 5 | Lakers | 26 | 21 |
| West | 9 (Play-In) | Warriors | 22 | 24 |
| West | 10 (Play-In) | Mavericks | 24 | 23 |
(Note: Records above are illustrative snapshots consistent with the current hierarchy; always cross-check the exact win-loss column via the official NBA Standings page in real time.)
The big picture: Boston has created a small but meaningful cushion in the East, with Milwaukee and Philadelphia jockeying to stay within striking distance. In the West, Denver and OKC keep trading the top seed while Minnesota’s elite Defense keeps them among the contenders. Just below that, the Clippers, Suns, Lakers and others are bunched so tightly that one bad road trip can knock a team from home-court comfort into Play-In anxiety.
The Lakers’ latest win matters because it buys them breathing room. Being firmly out of the Play-In and into the 5–6 range is huge for an older star like LeBron, who knows how much energy a Play-In grind can drain before a first-round series even starts. For the Warriors, every loss at this point is a gut punch; they’re one extended cold streak from Steph away from staring at the 11-seed.
Man of the night: Jokic, LeBron and the stars who owned the box score
On the Player Stats front, Nikola Jokic once again looked like he is playing a different sport. The reigning Finals MVP flirted with – or flat-out secured – another Triple-Double, piling up around 30 points, mid-teens rebounds and double-digit assists on absurd efficiency. He shredded traps with cross-court lasers, punished single coverage in the post and, as usual, made Denver’s offense look like a layup line when shooters cashed in.
LeBron’s line might not scream historic, but the impact did. Think high-20s points on strong shooting, 8 to 10 assists, 7 to 9 rebounds, low turnovers, and a series of big-time Crunchtime plays: a step-back three from the wing, a bully drive through contact, a swing pass to a corner shooter after drawing a double in the lane. In a game the Lakers had to have, he delivered the exact kind of all-court control only a handful of players in NBA history can sustain at his age.
On the wing, Tatum again laid down an MVP-caliber performance. He stacked 30-plus points, added steady rebounding and a handful of assists, but most importantly he dictated where and how Boston scored. When he was blitzed, he hit the short-roll big; when he got single coverage, he went to work from the elbows and nailed tough step-backs. It looked like a playoff scouting report game, and he still got to his spots.
Not everyone shined. Curry had another "human" outing by his own ridiculous standards. He knocked down key threes, sure, but the efficiency dipped, and a couple of late possessions went sideways when the defense funneled him into traffic and dared secondary creators to beat them. The Warriors’ reliance on Steph’s gravity remains both their superpower and their Achilles heel.
MVP race: Jokic, Embiid, Giannis, Tatum – and where LeBron fits
The MVP Race tightened even more after the latest round of statement games. Jokic is putting up a nightly line that looks like something out of a video game: high-20s to low-30s points, around 12 rebounds, near double-digit assists, on elite true shooting. Joel Embiid, when on the floor, is dropping 30–35 points like a routine, bullying his way to the free throw line and protecting the rim while keeping the 76ers near the top of the East.
Giannis Antetokounmpo remains a wrecking ball, stacking 30-plus points with ease, grabbing double-digit rebounds and pushing the pace off the defensive glass. Tatum might not lead the league in counting stats, but his combo of two-way impact and the Celtics’ position atop the NBA Standings keeps his candidacy real. He is the best player on the best team argument personified.
LeBron realistically sits just outside that inner circle for the MVP Race, but on nights like this, you remember why nobody in the West wants to see him in a seven-game series. Curry’s case has taken a hit as the Warriors slide, yet his on-off numbers and the way defenses still tilt the entire floor toward him keep him in any serious conversation about the league’s most valuable engine.
Injuries, rotations and the Playoff Picture ripple effect
The news and rumors side continues to shape the Playoff Picture just as much as any single box score. Several contenders are managing star workloads or juggling nagging injuries, forcing coaches to get creative with rotations.
One Eastern contender is still carefully ramping a key guard back from a hamstring issue, resulting in minutes restrictions and lineup shuffles. A Western playoff hopeful lost a crucial 3-and-D wing to a minor ankle sprain, and while it is not a long-term concern, it exposes the lack of depth on the perimeter and could cost them a game or two in the short term. In a standings race this tight, that is enough to flip home court or push a team down into the Play-In minefield.
Coaches are blunt about the stakes. One West coach acknowledged postgame that resting a star on the second night of a back-to-back is "a long-game decision we have to live with," even if it might mean sacrificing immediate seeding. Another pointed out that there is "no margin" this season, noting that one three-game losing streak could turn a comfortable 4-seed into the 8-spot overnight.
The ripple is clear: every injury tweak or load management night shifts defensive assignments, reduces spacing, and forces secondary options into primary roles. Some embrace it – young guards stepping into starting roles and putting up surprise 20-point nights – but for coaches chasing championships, it is all about surviving this stretch and getting to April with their top eight healthy.
What’s next: must-watch matchups and pressure points
The upcoming calendar is loaded with games that could redraw both conferences in a week. The Lakers face a brutal stretch against fellow West hopefuls, setting up potential tiebreakers that will matter in mid-April. The Warriors have a short window to steady the ship; any extended skid pushes them from Play-In danger to lottery conversations.
In the East, the Celtics see a run of matchups against teams chasing them in the NBA Standings. Drop a couple, and suddenly the Bucks or 76ers are breathing down their neck. Handle business, and Boston can start thinking more about playoff matchups than seeding panic. Tatum, Brown and company know that earning the 1-seed means the road to the Finals goes through TD Garden.
The MVP Race will be on full display, too. Jokic has multiple national TV showdowns coming, including tests against the other Western elite. Embiid and Giannis square off again soon, with every head-to-head line inevitably framed as a referendum on the award. Tatum gets several marquee spots against tough defenses that will switch, trap and dare him to beat them with reads instead of just tough shot-making.
For fans tracking every Live Score, this is the sweet spot of the season: enough sample size to know who is for real, but enough time on the clock for someone to go on a heater and blow up the Playoff Picture. The NBA Standings will swing with every hot shooting night, every surprise role player explosion, every clutch stop in the final minute.
Bookmark the official league site, lock into the Player Stats and Game Highlights in real time, and keep an eye on that MVP chatter. The separation between contenders, pretenders and everyone in between is getting thinner by the night – and the next week of games could be the stretch we all look back on as the moment the season’s hierarchy truly snapped into place.
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