NBA Standings shake-up: LeBron’s Lakers climb, Tatum’s Celtics hold, Curry keeps Warriors alive
06.02.2026 - 09:02:41
The NBA Standings got another jolt over the last 24 hours as LeBron James powered the Lakers into striking distance out West, Jayson Tatum kept the Celtics steady atop the East, and Stephen Curry once again dragged the Warriors back into the Playoff Picture with a vintage shooting clinic from downtown.
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Across the league it felt more like late-April basketball than a regular weeknight. Possessions slowed, rotations tightened, and stars leaned into MVP Race mode. The box scores were heavy, the Game Highlights electric, and the implications in the NBA Standings impossible to ignore.
Lakers lean on LeBron late, Warriors ride Curry heroics
Out West, the Los Angeles Lakers leaned on LeBron James in crunchtime to grab a key win that nudged them up the conference ladder. He stuffed the stat sheet yet again, flirting with a triple-double and controlling the tempo in the final five minutes. It was classic LeBron: bullying smaller wings on switches, spraying the ball to shooters in the corners, and barking out coverages on defense like an on-court coordinator.
Head coach Darvin Ham summed up the vibe afterward, saying the group "is starting to understand that every possession now has playoff weight." That urgency showed in the way the Lakers locked in defensively after halftime, holding their opponent to a low-scoring third quarter and winning the glass in decisive fashion.
Up in the Bay, Stephen Curry reminded everyone why he is still one of the league’s most terrifying scorers. Golden State’s margin for error is razor-thin in the current Playoff Picture, and Curry played like a man who knew it. He piled up points from well beyond the arc, hitting contested threes off the dribble and out of quick-hitting actions with Draymond Green. Every time the opponent made a run, Curry answered with a dagger from deep that sent the Chase Center crowd into a playoff-level roar.
Steve Kerr noted afterward that Curry "has basically been in playoff mode for weeks," and the numbers back that up. He is carrying a massive usage load while still putting up elite Player Stats in efficiency and playmaking. The Warriors’ entire offense orbits around him, and when he is this hot, they look far more like a dangerous sleeper than a fringe play-in squad.
Celtics stay composed while contenders jockey for position
On the other side of the bracket, the Boston Celtics once again showcased why they sit comfortably near the top of the NBA Standings. Jayson Tatum delivered another polished performance, mixing tough drives, step-back threes, and smart kick-outs to shooters. It was not an explosive 50-piece, but it was the kind of all-around star outing that underpins MVP Race arguments: steady scoring, strong rebounding from the wing, and timely playmaking down the stretch.
The Celtics’ defense also continues to look playoff-ready. They switched, scrammed smaller defenders out of bad matchups, and forced late-clock heaves throughout the second half. Head coach Joe Mazzulla praised the group’s poise, emphasizing that "our late-game execution is where we win or lose our season." With Tatum and Jaylen Brown taking turns as primary creators, Boston rarely looks rattled in the final two minutes.
Elsewhere in the East, a cluster of teams hovering around the middle seeds either held serve or stumbled. Some dropped winnable games on the road, the kind of losses that will hurt in April when tiebreakers decide home-court advantage and play-in survival. Others snuck out ugly wins that do not make for flashy Game Highlights but matter massively in the final standings columns.
Where the race stands: top contenders and play-in tension
With last night’s results locked in, the NBA Standings in both conferences tightened behind the leading contenders. Here is a snapshot of how the upper tier and the critical bubble zone are shaping up, focusing on teams fans around the world obsess over on a nightly basis.
| Conference | Seed | Team | Record | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East | 1 | Boston Celtics | Top of East | Holding steady |
| West | 1 | Denver Nuggets | Top of West | Consistent |
| West | 4–6 | Los Angeles Lakers | Climbing pack | Surging |
| West | 7–10 | Golden State Warriors | Play-in zone | Inching up |
| East | 7–10 | Bubble teams | Play-in mix | Volatile |
Exact win–loss lines will keep shifting nightly, but the tier picture is clear. The Celtics, anchored by Tatum, remain a benchmark everyone else in the East measures themselves against. In the West, Denver has reasserted itself as the class of the conference, but the real drama is in the chase pack, where the Lakers, Warriors and several other heavyweights are fighting to avoid the chaos of win-or-go-home play-in games.
For the Lakers, every move up matters. Getting into the top six would mean skipping the play-in entirely and protecting LeBron’s legs for a deeper run. The Warriors, by contrast, are simply trying to stay in the room and give Curry a chance to win a single-elimination shootout if that is what it comes to. One cold night from downtown could end their season. One hot night could bury a higher seed.
MVP Race heat check: Tatum, Jokic, Giannis in the spotlight
Even as the NBA Standings steal most of the oxygen this time of year, the MVP Race keeps threading through every box score. Jayson Tatum’s balanced line in Boston’s latest win kept his candidacy firmly in the mix. He delivered well over 25 points with strong efficiency, grabbed key rebounds on both ends, and chalked up a healthy assist total by reading double-teams and finding shooters spotted up behind the arc.
Nikola Jokic, meanwhile, continued to treat regular-season defenses like scrimmage fodder. His Player Stats remain absurd: high-20s scoring on efficient shooting, double-digit rebounds, and near-double-digit assists on many nights. Whether he posts a routine double-double or casually strolls into another triple-double, his fingerprints are on every Denver possession. Teammates constantly describe playing with him as "easy basketball" because of the way he manipulates the floor.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is still very much in that MVP conversation as well, stacking up monster scoring and rebounding nights while living at the free-throw line. When he is getting downhill in transition and punishing smaller defenders in the paint, opposing coaches basically talk about "trying to survive the storm" rather than stopping him outright.
If voters lean heavily on team success and the impact on the current NBA Standings, Tatum and Jokic might have the edge. If they zero in more on pure individual dominance, Giannis barges through the door. The next couple of weeks, with marquee national TV games and playoff-level intensity, will offer the kind of signature moments that often swing the award.
Who is trending up, who is slipping?
A few teams emerged from the last 24 hours feeling like big winners beyond just the box scores. The Lakers’ surge has been powered by cleaner spacing around LeBron and Anthony Davis, with role players finally knocking down open threes and defending without fouling. Their improved efficiency on both ends suggests this is more than a short-term hot streak.
The Warriors, on the other hand, still look fragile despite Curry’s fireworks. Their margin is tiny: when he goes to the bench, the offense can stall, and any foul trouble or cold stretch from their secondary scorers puts enormous weight back on their superstar. Still, as long as Curry is healthy, no top seed will be eager to see Golden State floating around the 7–10 range.
In the East, a couple of bubble teams wobbled. Sloppy late-game turnovers, missed boxouts in the final minute, and wasted timeouts cost them wins that were right there for the taking. Those are the plays that make coaches burn through film sessions and make fan bases groan, knowing a single game can be the difference between hosting a play-in or hitting the road as underdogs.
Injuries, roster tweaks and what they mean
Injury updates and subtle rotation changes also colored the last slate of games. Several contenders managed minutes carefully for stars nursing minor knocks, prioritizing long-term health over short-term seeding. That can create ugly stretches in the box score, but executives will gladly sacrifice an off night now for better odds of having a full roster in April and May.
Role players have stepped into larger roles as a result. Bench wings getting surprise 30-minute runs are suddenly deciding games with corner threes, and backup bigs thrust into starting spots are battling on the glass to swing possession counts. For a couple of the league’s middle seeds, those unsung performances kept them from sliding down the NBA Standings after tough back-to-back sets.
On the rumor front, front offices remain mostly quiet publicly but are clearly watching how these next few games unfold. Teams that thought they were safely locked into the middle seeds are now uncomfortably close to the play-in line. If slumps linger, expect louder chatter about offseason moves, coaching evaluations, and long-term timelines.
What to watch next: must-see matchups and playoff vibes
The next few nights are loaded with matchups that could shove the NBA Standings into yet another new shape. Any time the Lakers face another West contender, the stakes feel huge: that is a direct tiebreaker and a chance for LeBron to restate his claim as a postseason terror. Warriors games are appointment viewing as long as Curry is in this kind of groove; he can flip a game in three possessions, and every win keeps Golden State’s season alive.
Celtics contests will be under a different microscope. Fans and analysts are parsing every fourth-quarter possession for clues about whether Boston’s offense can survive deep into June. Tatum’s decision-making, Brown’s shot diet, and the role players’ confidence from three will all be dissected, possession by possession.
For fans, the action is simple: lock into the national TV schedule, keep one eye on the live scores ticker, and refresh the official NBA Standings after every final buzzer. The margins are razor-thin, and a single hot week from a star like LeBron, Tatum, or Curry can reshuffle entire brackets. Stay tuned for the next round of statement games, heartbreaker losses, and season-defining Game Highlights as the race tightens again.
