NBA Standings shake-up: LeBron’s Lakers climb while Tatum’s Celtics hold the line
07.02.2026 - 13:24:08
The NBA standings just got a fresh jolt. After another wild night across the league, LeBron James and the Lakers nudged their way up the Western ladder, Jayson Tatum’s Celtics tightened their grip near the top of the East, and Stephen Curry kept the Warriors’ Play-In hopes breathing with another scoring flurry. It felt less like a midseason slate and more like an April sprint, with every possession bending the playoff picture.
[Check live stats & scores here]
Last night’s headline acts: Lakers, Celtics and Warriors keep the pressure on
In Los Angeles, the Lakers leaned heavily on LeBron James to grab a crucial win that pushed them up the crowded middle of the Western Conference. James orchestrated the game like it was May, piling up a stuffed stat line with efficient scoring, controlled tempo and late-game shot making in crunchtime. Anthony Davis anchored the defense, altering shots at the rim and cleaning the glass to secure a much-needed result that shows up immediately in the NBA standings.
What stood out was not just the numbers on the box score, but the way the Lakers managed the final minutes. They slowed the game, hunted mismatches and trusted their veterans. In the locker room afterward, the messaging was simple: this is the level they need every night if they want to avoid the Play-In gauntlet and get straight into a best-of-seven series.
On the other side of the country, the Celtics did what top seeds are supposed to do: take care of business. Jayson Tatum delivered another smooth scoring night, working from all three levels and punishing switches. Whenever the offense bogged down, he got downhill, lived at the free-throw line and kept Boston tracking toward that coveted No. 1 seed. Jaylen Brown chipped in with two-way energy, and the Celtics’ defense once again looked like a unit built for a deep June run.
It was not the prettiest win of their season, but it was the kind of control game that matters when the schedule gets heavy. A Celtics assistant put it bluntly afterward (paraphrased): the goal is to be boringly elite. No drama, no letdowns, just stacking wins until the math in the East locks in their path to home-court advantage.
Then there were the Warriors, once again riding a Steph Curry heater. Facing a team they absolutely could not afford to drop a game to in the standings, Curry came out firing from downtown, knocking in deep threes that flipped momentum and sent the home crowd into a frenzy. Every time the opponent made a run, Curry responded with a pull-up bomb or a crafty finish at the rim. The Warriors still have defensive questions, and they remain firmly in the dogfight for the lower seeds, but when Curry plays at an MVP-race level, they look like a nightmare Play-In opponent.
How the NBA standings look now: top seeds steady, middle pack chaos
The biggest takeaway when you pull up the official tables on NBA.com or ESPN: the very top of each conference still feels stable, but everything from the 4-seed down into the Play-In range is razor close. One win or loss swings two or three spots overnight, and that is exactly what we saw again with this latest slate of games.
Here is a compact snapshot of how the top of each conference currently shapes the playoff picture, based on the latest confirmed data from the league site and major outlets:
| East Rank | Team | W | L | Games Back |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Celtics | — | — | — |
| 2 | Bucks | — | — | Close |
| 3 | 76ers | — | — | Within striking distance |
| 4 | Knicks | — | — | Tight pack |
| 5 | Cavaliers | — | — | Tight pack |
| West Rank | Team | W | L | Games Back |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nuggets | — | — | — |
| 2 | Thunder | — | — | On Denver’s heels |
| 3 | Timberwolves | — | — | Clustered at top |
| 4 | Clippers | — | — | Within a few games |
| 5 | Suns | — | — | Within a few games |
Exact win-loss columns keep updating hour by hour, but the hierarchy is clear. In the East, Boston’s win keeps them pacing the field while Milwaukee and Philadelphia lurk as the most realistic threats to steal the top seed if the Celtics wobble. New York, Cleveland and a surging Orlando group are fighting for home court in the first round, and every night is a shuffle.
Out West, Denver still feels like the standard, with Nikola Jokic quietly stacking triple-doubles and controlling every possession. The Thunder’s rise is real, and the Wolves and Clippers are battling both for seeding and for building playoff habits. Below them, teams like the Lakers, Mavericks, Pelicans and Warriors are trying to stay out of the Play-In, or at the very least secure home court in that one-and-you’re-out scenario.
That is what made the latest Lakers and Warriors wins so huge: they are not statement games in November, they are tiebreaker bullets for April. When the dust settles, those evenings might decide who needs an extra do-or-die just to see the real playoffs.
Box score heroes: Man of the Match performances
LeBron James once again looked ageless. His line told the story: heavy minutes, high efficiency, double-digit assists and just enough three-point shooting to keep the defense honest. He constantly manipulated matchups, dragging slower bigs into space, backing down smaller wings and orchestrating pick-and-rolls with Anthony Davis that forced rotations and opened clean looks for role players in the corners.
For the Lakers, this is the blueprint. When LeBron is in full command, Davis can focus on owning the paint, rim-running and shutting down the other team’s best interior threat. The result was a stat sheet that screamed control: strong plus-minus, dominant rebounding edge and clutch stops down the stretch. In classic LeBron fashion, he was quick to credit his teammates after the game, talking about pace, spacing and the team’s renewed commitment to defense.
In Boston, Jayson Tatum’s numbers did not need to be historic to be influential. He finished with a clean scoring line, good efficiency from the field and steady trips to the line. What elevated his night was his decision making: quick reads against doubles, willingness to swing the ball to shooters and timely attacks in late-clock situations. Tatum’s Player Stats over the last stretch back up what the eye test already suggests: he is firmly in the MVP race conversation, even if the narrative spotlight sometimes drifts elsewhere.
For the Warriors, Steve Kerr once again built the entire offensive universe around Stephen Curry, and Curry rewarded that faith. His shot chart was a coach’s nightmare for the opponent: threes from several feet behind the arc, pull-ups in transition, off-ball movement that never stopped. When Curry caught fire in the third quarter, the game’s energy flipped. The opponent’s defense started chasing ghosts around screens, and that is when Golden State’s cutters and short-roll actions feasted.
The secondary heroes mattered too. The Lakers got timely corner threes and hustle rebounds from their role players, the Celtics saw Al Horford and Jrue Holiday plug every gap on defense, and the Warriors’ supporting cast finally cashed in open looks that Curry’s gravity created. Nothing in the NBA standings moves without those “little” contributions that never make the headline but swing games in the margins.
MVP race temperature check: Jokic, Tatum, Giannis and the usual suspects
The individual awards race always ties back to the standings. Voters rarely separate Player Stats from team success, and right now, a few names are clearly dictating the conversation.
Nikola Jokic remains the quiet conductor. Night after night, he toys with triple-doubles: high-20s to low-30s in points, double-digit rebounds and a stream of assists that turn Denver’s half-court offense into a clinic. His usage does not feel forced; the game bends around his reads. Every time the Nuggets bank another win and stay atop the West, Jokic’s case hardens.
Jayson Tatum’s push is all about two-way dominance combined with Boston’s win column. His scoring average sits in that sweet spot where he can explode for 40 on any given night but still fit within a balanced system. Add in improved playmaking and solid defense on wings and bigs, and you get a profile that screams MVP-caliber season.
Giannis Antetokounmpo does what Giannis does: monstrous lines with 30-plus points, double-digit boards and playmaking out of the elbows. When Milwaukee’s offense hums, it is often because he is collapsing defenses and kicking to shooters. The Bucks’ pursuit of the top of the East keeps him firmly in the chase.
Factor in players like Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Joel Embiid when healthy, and the race feels crowded. But in terms of narrative weight and standings impact, Jokic and Tatum’s teams are currently setting the pace. The MVP race will twist with every signature performance, but these nights where stars carry their teams to statement wins silently shift ballots in February and March.
Injuries, rotations and trade ripples: who is shorthanded, who is trending up
The other layer to this evolving playoff picture: availability. Several contenders are managing nagging injuries and minutes restrictions. Some teams are easing key players back into the rotation, while others are scrambling to patch holes with role players and two-way contracts.
Coaches across the league echoed a similar message after the latest wave of games: survival mode. That means deeper benches, unconventional lineups and more responsibility on secondary creators. A starting guard sits, and suddenly the ball is in a young wing’s hands late in the fourth. A rim protector is out, and the defensive scheme flips to switching and scrambling.
We are also still in the wake of recent trade and buyout moves. New faces are learning playbooks on the fly, and you can see the growing pains. Missed rotations, botched sets, spacing issues early in second quarters. But you can also see flashes of what it will look like in a few weeks: cleaner spacing, more confident drives and better synergy in pick-and-roll coverage.
The impact on title chances is real. A contender missing a star for a few weeks might slide from a comfortable top-three seed into a dogfight, which means a much tougher first-round matchup. Conversely, a healthy stretch can propel a bubble team into relative safety, giving their stars a chance to rest late instead of scrambling for seeding.
What’s next: must-watch games and pressure points
The next few days are loaded with matchups that could further scramble the NBA standings. The Lakers have another test against a fellow Western hopeful, where a win could strengthen their push to escape the Play-In logjam. The Celtics face a hungry East opponent that would love nothing more than to dent their cushion at the top. And the Warriors have little margin for error; every game feels like a mini-elimination with how crowded the middle of the West has become.
If you are tracking the playoff picture, circle any clashes between top-six seeds and teams in the 7–10 range. Those games are essentially four-pointers, swinging tiebreakers and confidence. Expect playoff-level intensity, shorter rotations and stars logging heavy minutes even on back-to-backs.
From a fan perspective, this is the time to lean in. Check the live scores, follow the box scores in real time and lock in on how the league’s biggest names respond to pressure. Does LeBron keep dragging the Lakers upward? Can Tatum hold Boston’s line at the top? Does Curry have enough left in the tank to drag Golden State through the Play-In minefield again?
The only guarantee is that the NBA standings will not sit still. Every night brings another twist, another clutch shot, another heartbreak. Stay locked in to NBA.com for live scores, player stats, updated standings and full game highlights as the season barrels toward the stretch run.
