NBA Standings shake up: LeBron’s Lakers surge as Tatum’s Celtics, Curry’s Warriors jockey for position
26.01.2026 - 15:03:42
The NBA Standings tightened again after the latest slate of games, with LeBron James pushing the Los Angeles Lakers up the Western ladder, Jayson Tatum keeping the Boston Celtics steady near the top of the East, and Stephen Curry fighting to keep the Golden State Warriors in the postseason chase. It felt like mid-April basketball in January: every possession heavy, every run amplified, every mistake punished.
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Across the league, late-game execution, superstar shot-making and depth were the separators. The box scores from last night are already rippling through the playoff picture. Fans scanning the NBA Standings this morning see not just numbers, but real pressure on teams flirting with the Play-In line and contenders trying to lock in homecourt advantage.
LeBron powers Lakers in crunch time, Warriors cling to hope
LeBron James once again took over when it mattered most. The Lakers leaned heavily on his all-around brilliance, with the 39-year-old forward stuffing the stat sheet in a game that swung multiple times in the fourth quarter. He piled up a near triple-double, controlling tempo, calling out sets, and repeatedly attacking mismatches. Every time the opponent tried to make a run from downtown, LeBron answered with a drive, a kickout or a post-up fadeaway.
Anthony Davis backed him with a dominant Double-Double, vacuuming rebounds and anchoring the Defense. The Lakers’ supporting cast knocked down timely threes, but this was LeBron’s game from start to finish. One rival assistant, speaking postgame, summed it up: “When he decides the game is his, there isn’t much you can scheme.” The win nudged the Lakers up the West ladder, turning a nervous start to the week into much-needed momentum.
On the other coast of the Play-In race, Stephen Curry dragged the Warriors through another high-wire act. Curry lit it up from beyond the arc, raining in deep threes off high screens and broken plays. The box score tells you he scored in the high 30s, but the feel of the night was even bigger: every time Golden State’s offense stalled, Curry went hunting mismatches and pulling up from way beyond the line. Defenses loaded up, sent traps and showed bodies, yet he kept generating clean looks or hockey assists that set up secondary shooters.
Still, the margin for error remains razor-thin. Golden State’s bench production wobbled, and late-game turnovers almost turned a comfortable lead into a heartbreaker. Steve Kerr’s postgame tone was measured. He praised Curry’s shot-making but pointed straight to the sloppiness: “We can’t keep putting it all on Steph in the last three minutes. That’s not a recipe for climbing the NBA Standings.” The Warriors remain in the thick of the Play-In conversation, but nothing about their position feels safe.
Tatum and the Celtics hold the line at the top
While chaos swirls in the middle of the conferences, Jayson Tatum and the Celtics are playing the long game. Boston’s latest win didn’t come with a viral Buzzer Beater or a historic Triple-Double, but it came with something just as valuable: professional control. Tatum methodically picked his spots, finishing with a clean scoring line while adding rebounds and playmaking that never show up fully in highlight packages.
Jaylen Brown brought downhill pressure, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White handled the point-of-attack Defense, and the Celtics’ spacing just squeezed the life out of their opponent. It looked like a playoff atmosphere for stretches, but Boston kept its composure with a veteran calm that explains their place near the top of the NBA Standings. When they needed buckets late, they leaned on Tatum on the left wing in iso sets, trusting his footwork and midrange touch. He delivered just enough to slam the door.
Opposing coaches keep coming back to the same theme: Boston’s balance. You can load up on Tatum, but the moment you over-commit, the ball swings to shooters or cutters. In an era where Player Stats often dominate conversation, the Celtics keep emphasizing habits, lineups and the grind of 48 minutes.
How the NBA Standings look after the latest shakeup
The results from the last 24 hours carried real weight. Here’s a compact look at how the top of each conference stacks up right now, with contenders and bubble teams feeling every win and loss.
| East Rank | Team | Record | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston Celtics | elite winning % | Steady at the top |
| 2 | Milwaukee Bucks | top-tier record | Chasing Boston |
| 3 | Philadelphia 76ers | strong record | Embiid in MVP mix |
| 7–10 | Play-In mix | around .500 | Every night matters |
| West Rank | Team | Record | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oklahoma City / Minnesota tier | near top of West | Young cores rising |
| 2–3 | Denver Nuggets | contender record | Jokic steady |
| 7–10 | Lakers, Warriors & Co. | around .500 | Play-In battle |
That snapshot barely scratches the surface. In the East, the Playoff Picture has the Celtics and Bucks jockeying for the 1-seed, with the 76ers lurking thanks to an MVP-level season from Joel Embiid. One bad week can flip homecourt, but at the moment Boston’s consistency has them in pole position. Below them, teams in the middle seeds are fighting to avoid the Play-In and the nightmare scenario of a winner-take-all game against a hot shooter or a transcendent big.
Out West, the hierarchy is less settled. A tight cluster around the 4–10 range means a single losing streak can drop a team from homecourt dreams to Play-In reality. The Lakers’ latest surge pushed them closer to that middle pack, while the Warriors are clinging to the final spots, watching the out-of-town scoreboard as closely as fans do on their phones. Every Live Score update matters when separation is measured in half-games.
MVP Race: Jokic, Embiid, Tatum, and the superstar arms race
The MVP Race is where Player Stats turn into narrative fuel. Nikola Jokic continues to put up video-game numbers: high-20s in points, a Double-Double as a baseline, and assist totals that hit guard territory. He rarely forces shots, yet the efficiency remains absurd. Every Denver win built on his orchestration just tightens his case. Opponents talk about the “Jokic tax” – the idea that you can defend him well for 20 seconds and still give up a layup to a cutter he spotted two passes ahead.
Joel Embiid is right there with him. His scoring outbursts have become routine, with 30-plus nights on strong shooting splits and a steady diet of free throws. Add in double-digit rebounds and improved passing out of double teams, and the box scores look historic. He is not padding stats in garbage time; he is tilting games from the opening tip. Philadelphia’s place near the top of the East is a massive part of his argument in the MVP conversation.
Then there’s Jayson Tatum, the engine of the league’s best or near-best record. His raw stats might not match Embiid’s explosive scoring or Jokic’s assist numbers, but his two-way presence, late-game shot creation and ability to elevate teammates keep him on the radar. The Celtics don’t need him to chase a Career-High every night; they need him to control fourth quarters and secure wins that preserve their prime position in the NBA Standings.
On the perimeter, Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continue to crash the party. Both are piling up massive scoring lines combined with high assist totals. Defenses load up, yet the stepback threes, pick-and-roll reads and foul-drawing craft keep shining through. The MVP Race is more crowded than ever, but wins and seedings will ultimately separate storylines from trophies.
Injuries, absences and how they reshape the playoff picture
No conversation about this season’s standings is complete without the injury report. Star absences have already shifted the landscape. Teams that expected to cruise into a top-4 seed have been forced to grind out results with short rotations and role players pushed into bigger responsibilities.
Coaches are trying to balance the short-term need for wins with the long-term need for health. You can feel it in their quotes: “We’re not going to rush him back just for one regular-season game” is a common refrain. But each night the math gets harsher. A team sitting in 8th cannot afford a five-game skid simply to buy rest days, not when the Play-In is lurking with single-elimination chaos.
For contenders, one key injury can move them from title favorites to question marks. A wing defender missing a week might not break a season, but a star ball-handler dealing with a nagging hamstring can derail offensive flow for months. That is where roster depth, midseason trades and buyout additions become critical.
Who is hot, who is slipping and what it means
Several teams have quietly become League Pass favorites because of their recent form. Young, up-tempo squads in both conferences are riding confidence spikes, turning all that energy into real wins. When they get stops and run, they look like future contenders. When the game slows down, you can still see the inexperience: rushed shots, missed box-outs, panicked passes in crunchtime.
Then there are the supposed contenders stuck in neutral. Veteran-heavy rosters hovering around .500 now feel each loss as a warning sign instead of just a blip. You hear it in postgame locker rooms: the word “urgency” gets repeated, sometimes through gritted teeth. Shots are being taken a beat earlier, rotations tightened a month sooner than usual.
Individual players are feeling the pressure too. Some high-usage guards are putting up big raw numbers but struggling with efficiency. The advanced metrics reveal heavy turnovers and poor shooting splits, and coaches are subtly shifting usage to steadier hands. On the flip side, role players are stepping into the spotlight, delivering 20-point nights or lockdown Defense that flips games in the margins.
Must-watch games and what is coming next
The schedule over the next few days is loaded with games that will punch right into the heart of the NBA Standings drama. The Lakers have more tests against direct Western rivals, matchups that feel like mini Playoff series because of the swing they can create between sixth place and tenth. LeBron knows every possession now carries tiebreaker weight, not just highlight potential.
The Celtics face Eastern foes looking to prove they can hang with the conference’s standard-setter. Tatum and Brown will see new looks as teams throw playoff-style coverages at them just to gauge how far they are from contention. Each of those games offers a real-time lab for Boston’s late-game sets and defensive communication.
The Warriors, meanwhile, stare at a brutal stretch where every misstep can send them tumbling down the Play-In ladder. Curry will keep firing, but the question is whether the supporting cast and Defense can rise to postseason level. Fans checking Live Scores night after night will see their season swing in two-minute bursts.
Layer in clashes featuring Jokic’s Nuggets, Embiid’s Sixers and rising stars across the map, and the next week looks like a condensed preview of April and May. The Playoff Picture is far from settled, and the margins remain razor-thin.
For fans, the instruction is simple: keep one eye on the nightly box scores and the other on the updated NBA Standings. The separation between homecourt and road battles, between Playoffs and Play-In, might come down to a single Buzzer Beater, a single defensive stop, a single brilliant night from a superstar who refuses to let his team slip.
