NBA Standings shake-up: LeBron’s Lakers climb, Tatum’s Celtics hold firm as Curry, Jokic star in wild night
02.02.2026 - 01:30:27
The NBA standings just got a real jolt. On a night loaded with playoff-level intensity, LeBron James powered the Lakers to a crucial win, Jayson Tatum kept the Celtics steady at the top, and Steph Curry plus Nikola Jokic reminded everyone why they sit near the front of every MVP race conversation. With the postseason picture tightening, every possession suddenly feels like April and May.
[Check live stats & scores here]
Across the league, the mix of statement wins, box-score fireworks and injury updates not only reshaped the nightly headlines, it subtly shifted the paths of contenders and bubble teams. The latest NBA standings now tell a story of separation at the top, chaos in the middle, and pure desperation in the play-in race.
LeBron and the Lakers refuse to fade
LeBron James did what he usually does when the noise gets loud: he turned a must-have into a showcase. Attacking downhill, orchestrating from the post, and drilling timely jumpers from downtown, he led the Lakers to a high-stakes win that keeps them firmly in the Western Conference play-in mix and within striking distance of a protected seed.
It was not just the raw player stats – points, rebounds, assists – it was the way he controlled crunchtime. Every late-game possession ran through him, either as a scorer collapsing the defense or as a passer spraying the ball out to shooters in the corners. The win bumps Los Angeles up the ladder, tightening the gap to the teams sitting in the 5–8 range and putting serious pressure on the squads just below them.
After the game, the Lakers’ locker room had the feel of a team that understands the margin for error is basically gone. Coaches emphasized the defense on the perimeter, praising the way they ran shooters off the line and finally finished possessions on the glass. One assistant put it bluntly: they cannot afford to "waste any LeBron nights" at this stage of the season.
Celtics hold serve behind Tatum’s steady dominance
On the other side of the country, Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics played like a group that fully expects to hold the East’s No. 1 seed when the dust settles. Tatum’s scoring line was not a wild career-high, but it was a clinic in control: efficient shooting, downhill drives that generated free throws, and patient playmaking when the help defense loaded up on him.
The Celtics’ win keeps them clear of the chasing pack in the Eastern Conference standings. They are not merely winning, they are stacking comfortable margins that allow them to manage minutes and avoid grinding their stars into the ground before the playoffs. Even when the offense stalled for a couple of possessions, their defense – switching, scramming smaller guards out of mismatches, rotating on a string – slammed the door.
Tatum talked afterward about leaning into playoff habits now: better spacing, sharper reads against traps, and a commitment to end quarters with strong two-for-one execution. All of that matters because one or two slip-ups over the next few weeks could open the door to teams like Milwaukee or Philadelphia to make a run at the top seed.
Steph from deep, Jokic everywhere: MVP radar heating up
Steph Curry’s jumper has a way of freezing an arena when the ball is in the air. Against a conference rival, he strung together another masterclass from beyond the arc, shaking defenders with off-ball cuts before curling into threes from well behind the line. His shot chart looked like a heat map from deep, and the final box score backed it up with elite efficiency and another heavy three-point volume night.
Curry’s explosion once again thrust him into the MVP race discourse. The Warriors’ season has been a roller coaster, but when he plays like this – stretching defenses to their breaking point and opening easy rim runs for bigs and cutters – Golden State looks less like a fringe play-in group and more like a terrifying first-round opponent.
Then there is Nikola Jokic, who quietly posted another absurd line that would have been headline material any other year: a monster double-double that flirted with a triple-double, flawless touch in the paint, and signature one-handed dimes from the high post. Every time Denver needed a steadying possession, Jokic delivered – a bruising post-up, a short-roll floater, or a backdoor assist that made the defense look a step slow.
Denver’s win keeps them firmly planted among the top seeds in the West, and the advanced numbers keep screaming that Jokic is at the center of everything they do. His impact on both the scoreboard and the shot quality of everyone around him remains the strongest argument for his MVP case.
How the NBA standings look now: top of the conferences
The latest NBA standings underline just how thin the margins are. Boston has carved out a cushion, but the rest of the Eastern Conference is a dogfight, especially in the middle tier where two losses can send you tumbling down to the play-in. Out West, Denver and a handful of contenders are trading haymakers while teams like the Lakers and Warriors scrap for every inch.
| East Rank | Team | W | L |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston Celtics | - | - |
| 2 | Milwaukee Bucks | - | - |
| 3 | Philadelphia 76ers | - | - |
| 4 | Cleveland Cavaliers | - | - |
| 5 | New York Knicks | - | - |
That top-5 snapshot in the East shows the likely core of home-court advantage in the first round, even if the exact order will keep wobbling as back-to-backs and road trips hit. Beneath them, the battle for play-in survival is ruthless, with teams trying to avoid the 7–10 logjam where one bad night can end a season.
| West Rank | Team | W | L |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denver Nuggets | - | - |
| 2 | Minnesota Timberwolves | - | - |
| 3 | Oklahoma City Thunder | - | - |
| 4 | Los Angeles Clippers | - | - |
| 5 | Phoenix Suns | - | - |
Denver’s presence at or near the top has become routine, but the rise of young OKC and the steady push from the Clippers and Suns have turned the upper West into a nightly referendum on contender status. Just below them, the Lakers, Warriors and a couple of upstarts are fighting not only for seeding but for confidence heading into a brutal first-round matchup.
Playoff picture and bubble pressure
Step back from the nightly drama, and the broader playoff picture is starting to sharpen. In the East, Boston looks locked into the contender tier, with Milwaukee and Philadelphia orbiting close behind when healthy. New York and Cleveland are fighting for that crucial 4–5 zone, which could decide who avoids Boston until at least the conference finals.
The real chaos lives around the 7–10 seeds. One night, a gritty road win can vault a squad into seventh; the next, a flat performance or a key injury sends them spiraling back toward tenth. Coaches are shortening rotations, leaning heavier on stars, and openly talking about treating March and early April like mini playoff series. That urgency is already visible in late-game possessions, where every trip is matchup-hunted and every defensive switch scrutinized.
Out West, the play-in race might be even more cutthroat. The Lakers and Warriors know the territory well, but they are feeling real heat from younger, deeper rosters trying to prove they belong. Those teams are happy to run, switch everything, and target aging legs in transition. Every night feels like a referendum on whether experience can still trump fresh legs over 48 minutes.
Injuries, rotations and the what-if factor
No conversation about the current NBA standings is complete without acknowledging injuries. Several contenders are managing stars through nagging issues, and even one or two missed weeks right now can tilt an entire playoff bracket. Coaches are juggling the push for seeding with the need to have legs under their best players when the real games start.
Rotations are tightening accordingly. Veterans who struggled early in the year suddenly look more valuable as coaches hunt for low-mistake lineups. Meanwhile, some young players who flashed in January are seeing their minutes trimmed as the game slows down and every possession is scripted. That balance between developmental reps and win-now priorities is one of the underplayed storylines of this stretch run.
MVP race: who actually leads?
With nights like these, it is no surprise that the MVP race feels more fluid than the standings suggest. Jokic has the advanced metrics and the nightly triple-double threat. Curry has the narrative juice of dragging a flawed roster into the hunt with nuclear shooting. Tatum has the team record and two-way presence that voters traditionally reward. Quietly, other stars like Luka Doncic and Giannis Antetokounmpo continue to stack outrageous player stats that would win the trophy in plenty of other seasons.
What could ultimately swing the MVP chase is how these stars close the schedule. Voters will remember marquee head-to-head matchups, fourth-quarter takeovers, and efficiency under real pressure. A couple of signature game highlights – a dagger three over a rival, a 40-point playoff-climate performance, a box score stuffed with steals and blocks on national TV – can define a season-long narrative in a single night.
What to watch next: must-see games and storylines
The next few days are loaded with games that could leave fresh fingerprints on both the standings and the award races. The Lakers face another test that will measure whether this late push is sustainable or just a brief surge. The Celtics step into a potential trap game where a tired performance could reopen the door for Milwaukee. The Warriors and Nuggets each have matchups that will either reinforce their current trajectories or raise new questions.
Fans should keep an eye on back-to-back sets and long road trips – those are the stretches where contenders either separate or stumble. Coaches will be strategic with rest, which means live scores and injury reports become essential pregame reads. A star sitting out on short notice can flip a presumed win into a coin flip, which in turn can shift play-in seeding by the end of the week.
As the season barrels toward its final weeks, the NBA standings are no longer just numbers on a page; they are a living, shifting drama written in real time by stars like LeBron, Tatum, Curry and Jokic. Every night now feels like it carries playoff weight, and the only safe prediction is that the next slate of games will scramble the narrative all over again. Stay locked in, track the live scores, and do not blink – this stretch run is built for fans who love tension, stats and storylines colliding at full speed.
