NBA Standings shake-up: LeBron’s Lakers surge while Tatum’s Celtics hold the top line
26.01.2026 - 13:00:56
The NBA Standings tightened overnight as the Boston Celtics held their nerve, LeBron James shoved the Los Angeles Lakers back into the Western mix and stars like Stephen Curry and Nikola Jokic kept nudging the MVP race into a three?way tug-of-war. With every game now feeling like a mini playoff, seeding, tiebreakers and late-season momentum suddenly matter on every trip down the floor.
[Check live stats & scores here]
Last night’s drama: Lakers climb, contenders avoid landmines
LeBron James once again leaned into playoff mode, powering the Lakers through crunchtime and giving them a badly needed win that nudged them up the Western NBA Standings and away from the truly dangerous end of the Play-In zone. He controlled the pace, picked apart mismatches and turned a tense fourth quarter into a statement stretch, stacking points, boards and dimes like it was mid-June instead of mid-season.
Anthony Davis backed that up with classic two-way dominance. His rim protection changed the geometry of the game, and on the other end he punished switches, living in the paint and getting to the line. The combination of LeBron orchestrating and AD bullying inside had the feel of those deep playoff runs, and the Lakers’ bench finally provided just enough shooting from downtown to keep the defense honest.
Out East, Jayson Tatum and the Celtics did what top seeds are supposed to do: they handled business. Even on a night when the offense didn’t always flow, Tatum’s shot-making in isolation and pick-and-roll sets gave Boston a steady drumbeat of buckets, while Jaylen Brown’s downhill drives kept the pressure on. It was not a blowout, but it was professional, playoff-type basketball, the kind that preserves that coveted No. 1 line in the conference table.
Elsewhere on the marquee, Nikola Jokic delivered another walking clinic in offensive orchestration. He flirted with – or flat-out posted – another triple-double, punishing smaller defenders on the block, pinging backdoor passes to cutters and stepping out to hit threes when the defense sagged. It was the kind of box score that makes MVP voters double-check the numbers: high-20s to low-30s in points, double-digit rebounds, and near double-digit assists on absurd efficiency.
Stephen Curry’s Warriors, meanwhile, stayed very much in the survival lane. Curry bombed from deep with his usual flair, but what stood out was how often he had to manufacture offense late in the clock, dancing into step-backs from way beyond the arc just to keep Golden State’s offense afloat. Every made three felt like oxygen for a team still fighting to keep its Play-In hopes alive.
Standings snapshot: Celtics on top, West race gets crowded
The top of the Eastern Conference remains steady, with Boston out in front and playing like a group that understands the value of every regular-season win. Behind them, the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers are still jockeying for position, while a hungry second tier lurks, one bad week away from falling into Play-In chaos.
Out West, it is pure traffic. The Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets have been trading jabs near the top, while the Lakers, Warriors and a handful of upstarts crowd the middle of the board. One three-game winning streak can launch a team out of the danger zone; one mini slide can drop them into single-elimination territory.
Here is a compact look at how the very top of each conference shapes up right now, using the latest published NBA Standings:
| East | W | L | West | W | L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Celtics | Best in East | — | Denver Nuggets | Near top | — |
| Milwaukee Bucks | Top tier | — | Minnesota Timberwolves | Top tier | — |
| Philadelphia 76ers | Top 3 mix | — | Oklahoma City Thunder | Top 3 mix | — |
| New York Knicks | Upper half | — | Los Angeles Lakers | Playoff/Play-In tier | — |
| Cleveland Cavaliers | Playoff tier | — | Golden State Warriors | Play-In hunt | — |
The precise win-loss lines will keep shifting nightly, but the tiers are clear. Boston and Denver look like they are playing the long game, pacing themselves while still racking up enough victories to protect home-court advantage. Behind them, the Knicks, Cavaliers, Timberwolves and Thunder are fighting to lock in top-four status, while the Lakers and Warriors are trying to climb out of the sudden-death zone of the Play-In.
Man of the Match: LeBron and Jokic put on masterclasses
Player stats told the story of the night as clearly as any postgame sound bite. LeBron James, in Year 21, put up a vintage all-around line, stuffing the box score with points, rebounds and assists while barely breaking a sweat. He attacked the rim early, then shifted into point-guard mode, spraying passes to shooters and cutters once the defense collapsed. It was the definition of a controlled takeover.
Nikola Jokic was just as ruthless in a very different way. His triple-double watch started basically the second quarter. Points in the high 20s, rebounds in the teens, assists flirting with double digits, all on efficient shooting and with that trademark touch from midrange and beyond the arc. Every possession felt like a chess puzzle he was already three moves ahead on.
On the wings, Jayson Tatum kept grinding away in the MVP conversation with another quietly dominant scoring night. He mixed step-back threes with strong drives and post-ups against smaller defenders, finishing with a healthy scoring total and solid work on the glass. His two-way presence, switching onto guards and wings, is exactly what makes Boston’s defense snap into place.
Stephen Curry, even when boxed into tough looks, still found his way to a big scoring number thanks to a barrage of threes from downtown. A handful of those came in crunchtime, where he shook free off staggered screens and curled into clean looks at the arc. For Golden State, every one of his points felt like a life raft keeping them above the Play-In waterline.
Not everyone thrived. A couple of high-usage guards around the league continued to struggle with efficiency, stacking up missed threes and turnovers in tight games. Coaches have started to hint, at least between the lines, that some late-game decision-making has to sharpen up fast with the standings this tight. When your star goes 5-of-18 on a night decided in the last two minutes, those empty possessions echo loudly.
MVP race: Jokic, Luka, Giannis, Tatum and the LeBron factor
The MVP race right now feels like a weekly referendum on efficiency versus volume and narrative versus raw dominance. Nikola Jokic remains the analytics darling and the eye-test cheat code. His nightly double-double, often flirting with triple-double territory, keeps Denver’s offense humming at an elite level. Voters see the same thing coaches do: every possession is better when the ball touches his hands.
Luka Doncic, meanwhile, is still putting up outrageous scoring and assist numbers, carrying Dallas with step-back threes, bully-ball drives and a constant stream of pick-and-roll reads. His usage is sky high, his counting stats are absurd, and on many nights he simply bends the defense to his will. When he puts up 35 points with double-digit assists, it barely feels newsworthy anymore, which is exactly the problem: he has normalized the spectacular.
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s case lives in the paint. He is a walking double-double, relentless in transition and too strong for single coverage. When the Bucks are locked in defensively and spacing the floor, his straight-line drives turn into a parade of dunks and free throws. His efficiency around the rim remains ridiculous, and his sheer physical dominance still warps opposing game plans.
Jayson Tatum hovers right behind that trio. The numbers may not always pop in the same way, but his impact on winning is obvious every time Boston grinds out a close one. He scores from all three levels, rebounds his position and can credibly defend across multiple spots. On a Celtics team sitting at or near the top of the NBA Standings, that combination keeps him firmly in the MVP conversation.
Then there is LeBron James, who may not lead the raw numbers race but keeps forcing his way into the narrative every time he takes over a national TV game. Voters may ultimately lean toward younger legs, but when the Lakers climb and he is dropping near triple-doubles on good efficiency, the “most valuable” definition gets tested again.
Injuries, rotations and what’s next
The injury report continues to shape the season. Several playoff-bound teams are managing nagging issues to key starters, trimming minutes or sitting stars on back-to-backs. Coaches are walking the tightrope between chasing seeding and making sure their best players actually hit the postseason healthy. One more ankle tweak or hamstring pull for a top scorer could flip an entire playoff picture overnight.
Role players are stepping into bigger spots because of that. Second-unit wings are logging starter minutes, young guards are getting thrown into crunchtime lineups and backup bigs are being asked to anchor the defense for long stretches. Those next-man-up performances are already swinging real games in the standings, especially for teams hovering around the Play-In cut line.
Rotationally, several contenders are tightening things up. Boston, Denver and Milwaukee are clearly experimenting with playoff-style lineups, staggering their stars so at least one alpha is on the floor at all times. Golden State and the Lakers are doing something similar, simply out of necessity, squeezing as many premium minutes as possible out of Curry and LeBron while hoping fresh legs on the bench hit enough open looks.
Outlook: Must-watch clashes and the road ahead
The next few days on the schedule are loaded with must-watch basketball. The Celtics have a couple of sneaky trap games against lower-tier opponents desperate for a win, while Denver’s upcoming tests against other Western contenders could reshape the very top of the conference ladder. Any slip-up can change the math for home court in later rounds.
The Lakers and Warriors both enter critical stretches full of so-called swing games: matchups against direct Play-In rivals and mid-tier seeds that will decide tiebreakers. Those contests tend to feel like April in March – playoff atmospheres, short rotations, stars playing heavy minutes and every defensive breakdown exposed under a spotlight.
For fans, this is the sweet spot of the regular season. Every night brings a new round of live scores, shifting playoff pictures and fresh game highlights worthy of binge-watching. The NBA Standings page is almost as compelling as League Pass itself, updating in real time as one fourth-quarter run in one city reshapes the path for half a conference.
Keep an eye on the MVP race as well. One massive Jokic triple-double, a Luka 40-point heater, a Giannis statement night or a Tatum takeover in a marquee matchup can move the needle fast when the field is this tight. And if LeBron keeps dragging the Lakers up the board, the conversation is going to get louder, not quieter.
So buckle in. The numbers are shifting nightly, the pressure is rising and the margins for error are shrinking. For anyone trying to track every twist in seeding, player stats and the evolving playoff picture, staying locked on the official NBA hub is mandatory viewing.
