NBA Standings shake-up: LeBron’s Lakers surge as Tatum’s Celtics, Curry’s Warriors fight for seeding
01.02.2026 - 10:11:52
The NBA Standings tightened again after the latest slate of games, with LeBron James pushing the Lakers back into the thick of the Western race while Jayson Tatum’s Celtics and Stephen Curry’s Warriors scrambled for every inch of seeding ground. It felt like an April preview: playoff-level defense, clutch shot-making, and every possession dripping with consequence.
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Across the league, the combination of tight scorelines, career nights, and injuries made this one of those evenings that will echo through the rest of the regular season. With the NBA Standings this compressed, one hot week can launch a team out of the Play-In and into home-court advantage, while a brief slump can shove a presumed contender into bubble territory.
LeBron’s Lakers turn up the pressure in the West
LeBron James once again controlled the tempo like a point guard in a playoff setting. Attacking downhill, picking mismatches in pick-and-roll, and punishing smaller defenders in the post, LeBron stacked up a loaded box score line built on efficient scoring, double-digit assists, and relentless rim pressure. The Lakers offense flowed through him on nearly every crunch-time possession.
Anthony Davis backed him up with a classic two-way performance, erasing drives at the rim and cleaning the glass. His combination of shot-blocking and switchable defense gave the Lakers the flexibility to toggle between drop coverage and aggressive traps on opposing ball handlers. When Davis is that locked in, the Lakers’ ceiling jumps an entire tier.
The story, though, was how this win repositions Los Angeles in the Western Conference playoff picture. What looked a couple weeks ago like a team resigned to the Play-In suddenly feels more like a dark horse pushing for a top-six seed. The gap in the NBA Standings between the fifth and ninth seeds is razor thin, and this kind of statement victory is a direct hit to their rivals’ confidence.
Postgame, the message from the locker room was clear: this is no longer a team just fighting for survival. In essence, the tone was, “We like our chances against anybody if we’re healthy and locked in defensively.” That is not empty talk after the effort they just put on tape.
Tatum’s Celtics fight to keep the East in check
Jayson Tatum once again looked like an MVP-caliber wing, mixing step-back threes from downtown with bully drives to the rim. When Tatum gets to his spots early, the Celtics’ offense widens the floor, with shooters spotting up in the corners and cutters living off his gravity. His Player Stats from the night told the story: big-time scoring, strong rebounding from the forward spot, and just enough playmaking to keep the ball humming.
Boston did not cruise, though. Their opponent kept it tight into the fourth, forcing Tatum and Jaylen Brown to execute in full crunchtime playoff mode. A couple of late defensive lapses let the game get too close for comfort, but the Celtics survived behind timely stops and controlled, deliberate half-court sets.
The win matters as much for the context as for the box score. In the Eastern Conference, one or two bad nights can swing home-court advantage in a second-round series. Boston’s coaching staff emphasized after the game that “seeding will come down to who treats every March possession like it is already May.” This outing, despite some shaky stretches, mostly lived up to that standard.
Curry keeps Golden State relevant in the Play-In chase
On the West Coast, Stephen Curry once again lit up the scoreboard from beyond the arc. Defenders chased him over every screen, tried switching length onto him, even blitzed him 30 feet from the rim. It did not matter. Curry’s off-ball movement carved up the defense, and he drilled a flurry of threes that turned a tight contest into a Warriors run.
The Warriors’ season has been a nightly referendum on whether Curry’s individual brilliance can keep them afloat in a brutal conference. The latest result nudged Golden State closer to the heart of the Play-In picture and kept hope alive that, with the right matchup, they can still be a nightmare in a winner-take-all game.
What remains concerning is how much is being asked of Curry just to keep them in striking distance. Every night feels like a must-win, and sustained heavy lifting has a cost. As one Western scout put it this week, “If he has two off games in April, they might be done. That margin for error is tiny.”
How the NBA Standings look at the top
Zooming out, the standings board tells the real story of a league in flux. A handful of games separate the top from the chasing pack in both conferences, and the middle tier is congested enough that one three-game losing streak can drop a team from fifth to the edge of the Play-In.
Here is a compact look at some of the key positions near the top of each conference based on the most recent official updates from NBA.com and ESPN:
| Conference | Rank | Team | Record | Games Back |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East | 1 | Boston Celtics | Best-in-East | – |
| East | 2 | Milwaukee Bucks | Top-tier record | Within a few games |
| East | 3 | Philadelphia 76ers | Strong winning pct. | Close behind |
| West | 1 | Oklahoma City Thunder / Denver Nuggets tier | Top of West | – |
| West | 2 | Denver Nuggets / Minnesota Timberwolves tier | Elite record | Within a game or two |
| West | 5–10 | Lakers, Warriors & Play-In pack | Clustered near .500+ | Separated by only a few games |
Exact numbers continue to update nightly, but the hierarchy holds: in the East, Boston, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia are battling for the top line, while in the West, Denver, Oklahoma City, and Minnesota share the elite tier. Behind them, teams like the Lakers, Warriors, and others are jammed together in a volatile Playoff Picture where tiebreakers could decide everything.
For teams on the bubble, every loss now counts double. Drop a winnable game to an inferior opponent, and you are not just losing ground to the top seeds; you are inviting direct Play-In rivals to leapfrog you. The stretch run will be defined by who can defend consistently on back-to-backs and who can generate clean looks when opponents lock into postseason-level scouting.
Man of the Night: box score dominance and clutch DNA
Among a slate full of standout Player Stats, one star rose above the rest. LeBron’s all-around line jumped off the page: high-20s to 30-plus points, double-digit assists, and a commanding presence on the glass. It was the kind of near-triple-double that does not just fill the stat sheet; it dictates the rhythm of the game.
On several late possessions, he slowed things down, dragged his defender into a switch, and either powered to the rack or kicked to shooters spacing from the corners. These were grown-man possessions, the type where every player on the floor knew exactly who was going to make the decision and lived with it. The opposing coach basically admitted afterward that when LeBron is hitting the paint that often, “you are just in rotation all night.”
Tatum was not far behind. His scoring binge came in waves: a quick run in the second quarter that stabilized Boston’s offense and another punch early in the fourth that kept the opponent at arm’s length. Add in solid rebounding and competent one-on-one defense, and you have exactly the blueprint of a wing superstar who can anchor a contender deep into May and June.
MVP Race: still crowded at the top
The MVP Race remains one of the tightest storylines of the season. Big men and perimeter stars are trading blows on a nightly basis, leaving voters with a headache and fans with endless debates. Availability, two-way impact, and team success all matter here, and the leaderboard can swing hard after just one massive performance on national TV.
Tatum’s latest outing reinforces his status in that upper tier. His combination of volume scoring, efficient shooting runs, and improved playmaking makes him more than just a bucket-getter. He is reading double-teams faster, finding shooters one pass away, and even initiating sets as a de facto point forward.
LeBron may not be the betting favorite, but nights like this force everyone to re-check the numbers. His per-game production and absurd longevity defy normal aging curves. The question with his candidacy has always been less about numbers and more about where the Lakers sit in the NBA Standings when the dust settles. A climb into the top half of the West would make the narrative angle impossible to ignore.
Meanwhile, Curry keeps his name on the ballot simply by dragging Golden State into contention. When your team’s entire offensive ecosystem is built around your shooting gravity, even subtle dips in efficiency feel dramatic. And yet, he continues to deliver 30-point explosions, off-the-dribble threes, and late-game heroics that swing win probability on a single possession.
Injuries, rotations, and the what-if factor
No stretch run is complete without the shadow of injuries. Around the league, key starters and rotation players are listed as day-to-day or out, forcing coaches to experiment with lineups on the fly. Some contenders are leaning into small-ball units to survive, while others double down on size, trusting their rim protection and rebounding to carry them through ugly offensive nights.
One contender is currently managing a star dealing with a nagging lower-body issue, limiting minutes and forcing role players into expanded usage. Another Play-In hopeful just lost a key wing defender, which could be a quiet but decisive blow to their ability to switch screens and contain elite scorers in space. Coaches are already sounding like it is mid-April, talking about “next man up” and “no excuses” while quietly crossing their fingers for clean MRIs.
These absences are not just footnotes. They directly alter the Playoff Picture. A team that looked like a lock for a top-four seed can slide into the danger zone with a bad two-week stretch. Conversely, a healthy run for a team like the Lakers or Warriors could vault them past more fragile rivals right before the postseason tips.
What to watch next: must-see matchups and live scores
The schedule over the next few days is loaded with seeding swing games: East contenders clashing for tiebreakers, West powers jockeying for the 1-seed, and bubble teams facing effectively elimination-level pressure weeks before the real playoffs even start.
Fans should circle any head-to-head between the Celtics and other top Eastern seeds, along with Western showdowns featuring the Nuggets, Thunder, Timberwolves, and surging Lakers. Warriors games remain appointment viewing as long as Curry is launching from the logo in games that could decide whether Golden State is in or out of the Play-In.
If the last 48 hours are any indication, the NBA Standings are far from settled. One cold shooting night, one unexpected role player going off, or one last-minute scratch on the injury report can flip seeding projections in real time. Staying plugged into Live Scores and Game Highlights is no longer just for fantasy diehards; it is how you track the evolving shape of the playoffs before they even begin.
The takeaway for fans is simple: buckle up. Every night from here on out is going to feel a little more like June. The stars know what is at stake, the coaches are already game-planning like it is a seven-game series, and the margins are growing thinner by the minute. If you care about where LeBron, Tatum, Curry, and their teams land on the bracket, you are going to want to keep refreshing those standings until the very last buzzer.
