NBA Standings shake-up: LeBron’s Lakers surge, Tatum’s Celtics hold top spot as Curry keeps Warriors alive
08.02.2026 - 05:48:41
The NBA Standings tightened again after a wild, high-scoring night that felt more like April than regular-season grind. LeBron James powered the Los Angeles Lakers up the Western ladder, Jayson Tatum kept the Boston Celtics in control of the East, and Stephen Curry caught fire to drag the Golden State Warriors one step closer to the Playoff Picture. Everywhere you looked, the scoreboard was glowing, the crowd was buzzing, and the postseason race got just a little bit nastier.
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Last night’s headline acts: Lakers roll, Celtics answer, Curry cooks
In Los Angeles, LeBron James looked anything but 39 as he bullied his way to a 32-point, 9-assist line in a statement home win that nudged the Lakers up the Western Conference board. They shredded a fellow Play-In contender with pace, drive-and-kick offense, and just enough defense in crunchtime to turn a tense third quarter into a comfortable finish. Anthony Davis anchored the paint with yet another Double-Double, altering shots at the rim and cleaning the glass when it mattered.
“We know what’s at stake every night now,” LeBron said afterward, summing up the energy in the locker room. The Lakers’ spacing looked cleaner, the rotations sharper, and their late-game execution finally matched the star power. It was the kind of win that does not just add a W to the column; it sends a message to anyone hovering around that 6–10 seed range out West.
On the other side of the country, the Boston Celtics stayed locked in at the top of the Eastern NBA Standings with a clinical home victory. Jayson Tatum set the tone early, calmly drilling threes from downtown and punishing switches in the mid-post. He finished with 29 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, controlling the tempo like a veteran quarterback.
Jaylen Brown brought the physicality on both ends, and the Celtics defense strangled the paint, forcing contested jumpers all night. “We talked all day about habits,” head coach Joe Mazzulla noted postgame. “It is not about chasing the 1-seed, it’s about playing the right way every possession.” The result: another comfortable win, another reminder that Boston can win with offense or with stops.
Then there was Stephen Curry. In San Francisco, the Warriors desperately needed a spark, and their two-time MVP delivered with one of those signature flurries that flips momentum in a heartbeat. Curry dropped 37 points on elite efficiency, splashing 8 threes and turning a tight second half into a vintage Chase Center roar. Every time the opponent threatened with a mini-run, Curry answered with a pull-up bomb or a back-cut layup off a slick Draymond Green dime.
“We are basically in playoff mode now,” Curry said. “Every possession feels like it could swing our season.” Golden State’s win did exactly that, keeping them within striking distance of the Play-In line and reminding the rest of the West that as long as No. 30 is healthy, you cannot completely count the Warriors out.
Scoreboard shockers and quiet alarms
Beyond the star power, the night delivered a couple of sneaky storylines. One fringe playoff hopeful stole a road win as a heavy underdog, using physical defense and hot three-point shooting to stun a higher seed. It will not break the internet, but in the margins of the NBA Standings, that kind of upset can be the tiebreaker that decides seeding in April.
Elsewhere, a supposed contender sleepwalked through three quarters, then tried to flip the switch too late. Their late rally came up short, and you could almost feel the frustration in the body language on the bench. “We are not entitled to wins,” their coach said tersely afterward, a polite way of saying the focus just was not there. For a team that entered the year talking about homecourt advantage and deep playoff runs, this kind of inconsistent energy is a huge red flag.
NBA Standings: who is climbing, who is slipping?
With the dust settled from the latest batch of games, the top of both conferences still looks familiar, but the middle is turning into a street fight. The Celtics keep breathing thin air at the top of the East, while in the West the race from 4 through 10 is separated by just a handful of games. A single hot week or cold spell can throw a team from homecourt dreams into Play-In purgatory.
Here is a compact snapshot of how the upper tier of the NBA Standings is shaping up right now, based on the latest results from the last 24 to 48 hours:
| Conference | Rank | Team | Record | Trend (last 10) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East | 1 | Boston Celtics | Best-in-East | Hot |
| East | 2 | Milwaukee Bucks | Top 3 | Improving |
| East | 3 | Philadelphia 76ers | Top 4 | Mixed |
| West | 1 | Oklahoma City Thunder / Minnesota tier | Top-of-West | Consistent |
| West | 2 | Denver Nuggets | Elite | Steady |
| West | 7–10 | Lakers, Warriors & Play-In pack | Clustered | Volatile |
Boston’s cushion at the top of the East means they can focus on health and playoff reps more than seeding. Milwaukee and Philadelphia, with MVP-level bigs anchoring them, are chasing rhythm as much as wins, trying to align defense, spacing, and late-game sets before the postseason hits.
Out West, Denver’s championship poise still looms over everyone, but the top seed has bounced between rising powers and the defending champs over the past weeks. Beneath that tier, the Lakers’ mini-surge and the Warriors’ latest win are tightening the race around the Play-In line. One cold shooting night can drop you from seventh to tenth, while a three-game winning streak can suddenly put you back in the conversation for a direct playoff berth.
MVP Race and superstar thermometers
The MVP Race remains crowded with familiar faces, but the last couple of nights have reinforced why certain names just will not leave the conversation. Jayson Tatum’s all-around control for the Celtics, with his ability to flip from primary scorer to primary playmaker possession by possession, continues to be the backbone of the league’s best record. He is not hunting box-score explosions every night; he is hunting wins, and the numbers – nearly 30 points, strong rebounding, smart playmaking – naturally follow.
LeBron, meanwhile, is not supposed to be in MVP debates at this age, and yet his two-way impact for a Lakers group living on the margin is impossible to ignore. When he scores north of 30 on efficient shooting and captains the offense late, Los Angeles looks like a team nobody wants to face. When he has an off night, the entire structure wobbles. That level of dependency is both a compliment and a concern, but it keeps his name in every MVP segment on national TV.
Stephen Curry’s case is more complicated, but nights like the one he just delivered are why voters keep a mental bookmark on him. Dropping mid-30s on 60 percent shooting from the field and bombing from deep while facing packed defenses is not normal. It is historic. The Warriors’ record will determine how loud his candidacy gets, but as an individual offensive engine, Curry remains on the very short list of players who can bend a game – and a series – to his will.
And then there is the reigning big-man royalty across the league. Dominant centers keep stacking Double-Doubles and Triple-Double-adjacent box scores, erasing mistakes at the rim and punishing smaller lineups on the other end. Even on nights when their teams stumble, the stat lines are loud: around 30 points, 12-plus boards, 6 or more assists, and defensive sequences that simply do not show up fully in the numbers.
Injury notes, rotations and what they mean for the playoff picture
The other big subplot hovering over the NBA Standings right now is health. Several contenders are managing nagging injuries to key starters, and it is shaping how coaches manage minutes and rotations down the stretch.
One top-tier East team is still easing its star guard back from a leg issue, monitoring his workload and staggering minutes so the offense does not stall when he sits. “We are not chasing March wins at the expense of May,” the coach said, underlining the long view. It makes sense, but it also means more pressure on role players to hit open shots and hold the fort when opponents smell blood.
Out West, a contending frontcourt remains in flux with a starting forward dealing with a lingering ankle problem. That has opened the door for bench wings to snatch rotation spots, and a couple of them have answered with hustle, corner threes and energy defense. Those small stories – an undrafted wing picking up the toughest assignment, a backup big sprinting the floor for rim runs – are often the difference between the 4-seed and the 7-seed once the math settles.
For teams like the Lakers and Warriors, who rely so heavily on aging superstars, any tweak or scare immediately sends a chill through the fanbase. The training staff decisions over the next few weeks may be as important as any in-game adjustment. Rest nights, back-to-back management, and cautious returns will quietly shape the Playoff Picture long before the bracket is officially set.
Top performers and box score standouts
Beyond the headline names, a few guys popped off the screen over the last 24 hours. A young guard on a rebuilding team torched a playoff hopeful with a career night, pouring in over 30 points while attacking mismatches and hitting step-back jumpers with zero fear. It might not change the NBA Standings much this season, but it changes the calculus of that franchise’s future. Suddenly, they do not just have a "nice young player"; they might have a legitimate cornerstone.
A veteran big quietly posted a 20-point, 15-rebound Double-Double in a bruising interior battle, outworking a more highly touted opponent and dominating the glass in the fourth quarter. Those kinds of performances do not lead highlight shows, but coaches and front offices notice. So do opponents who have to box him out next time.
Meanwhile, one All-Star swingman on an alleged contender is trending the wrong way. His shooting slump extended into another night, with rushed threes, forced drives and visible frustration after missed free throws. In the box score, it reads like a mediocre 16-point outing; on film, it looks like a player searching for rhythm at exactly the wrong time of year.
What is next: must-watch clashes and pressure points
The next few days on the schedule are loaded with games that will echo through the standings. The Lakers face another Western rival jockeying for the 6–8 range, and every possession will feel like preseason for the Play-In. If LeBron and Davis bring the same edge they showed last night, they can put real pressure on the teams just ahead of them.
The Celtics have a marquee showdown lined up against another East power, a perfect litmus test for whether their recent dominance holds up when the talent gap disappears. Expect playoff-level physicality, star-on-star matchups, and a lot of chess between coaching staffs trying to hide weak links on defense.
The Warriors, with Curry in rhythm, enter a mini-gauntlet of opponents hovering around .500. On paper, it looks manageable. In reality, it is a minefield. Drop two in a row and the Play-In line starts to wobble again; sweep the stretch and suddenly Golden State is back in the “no one wants to see them in a 7-game series” category.
Every one of these matchups will feed directly back into the NBA Standings, turning what might look like an ordinary midweek slate into a string of playoff rehearsals. For fans, that means this is the window where you cannot afford to tune out. The Game Highlights, the late-night comebacks, the Live Scores that flip while you are scrolling – all of it is laying the groundwork for who is in, who is out, and who actually looks dangerous when the real season starts.
If the trends from this latest round of games hold, expect the Celtics to keep setting the pace in the East, Denver and the top West seed to trade blows for conference supremacy, and a full-on fistfight in the middle where the Lakers, Warriors, and the rest of the Play-In pack live. Keep an eye on the MVP Race, because every monster night from Tatum, LeBron, Curry and the league’s dominant bigs is now a referendum in real time.
Stay locked in, keep one eye on the box scores and another on the standings page, and buckle up for a stretch run where every possession can tilt a season.
