NBA Standings shake-up: LeBron’s Lakers surge while Tatum’s Celtics, Curry’s Warriors hold playoff ground
26.01.2026 - 15:22:00
The NBA standings are tightening by the day, and every game now feels like a mini playoff. As LeBron James tries to drag the Los Angeles Lakers higher in the Western race, Jayson Tatum keeps the Boston Celtics looking like a Finals favorite, while Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors are grinding just to stay in the postseason mix. The NBA Standings board is shifting almost nightly, and the margin for error has basically vanished.
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Across the league, contenders are jostling for seeding, fringe teams are clinging to the Play-In line, and superstars are posting ridiculous player stats just to keep their squads afloat. The playoff picture looks wild, the MVP race is razor-thin, and every night is turning up at least one heart-stopping finish or statement blowout.
Game recap: Stars carrying heavy loads, defenses bending
Look at the recent wave of results and there is a clear pattern: if your star shows up, you’ve got a shot. When LeBron puts his foot on the gas, the Lakers look like a team nobody wants to see in a seven-game series. He’s still dictating pace, bullying smaller defenders in the post, and orchestrating the halfcourt like a point guard in a power forward’s body. Whenever he hits those step-back threes from downtown, the entire arena feels the momentum turn.
On the other side of the country, Jayson Tatum keeps piling up efficient scoring nights for Boston. It is not just the raw points; it is the way he’s picking his spots. One night he is living in the midrange, the next he is bombing away from three or getting downhill and living at the free-throw line. The Celtics rarely look rattled in crunchtime because Tatum and Jaylen Brown can manufacture a good look on almost any possession.
Stephen Curry remains Golden State’s life raft. Even on off-shooting nights by his standards, defenses are still tilted toward him, trapping 30 feet from the rim, opening up slips, backdoor cuts and kick-out threes for teammates. When he gets hot, the entire flow of the game changes: transition threes, deep pull-ups, off-ball screens into quick releases. Every Curry flurry still feels like must-see TV, and it is exactly what the Warriors need as they fight to stay inside the Play-In bracket.
Meanwhile, some teams are surviving with balance rather than one-man heroics. Squads like Denver and Oklahoma City have been leaning on ball movement, depth and size, trusting that a solid defensive baseline and clean execution will keep them safely above the Play-In chaos. When the threes are falling for their role players, they look every bit like conference finalists.
Key highlights: clutch shots, cold stretches, and momentum swings
Recent nights have offered pretty much everything: fourth-quarter comebacks, defensive stands, and ice-cold stretches that cost teams vital ground in the NBA standings. A couple of teams came roaring back from double-digit deficits behind high-energy bench units and pressure defense, turning what looked like routine losses into emotional, season-shaping wins. You could feel the playoff atmosphere in the fourth quarter as every possession slowed to a crawl and whistles suddenly felt heavier.
Coaches have not been shy about the stakes. One veteran head coach summed it up postgame, saying his group has to "treat every possession like April, not January," emphasizing that lazy closeouts and sloppy turnovers now can be the difference between a top-six seed and a must-win Play-In scenario later. Players are echoing that urgency; several stars have talked about locking in earlier in games instead of waiting for crunchtime heroics.
Still, not everyone is delivering. Some big names are mired in shooting slumps or struggling to impact the game on defense. You can see the frustration on the bench when a wide-open corner three rims out or a blown rotation turns into a backbreaking and-one. Those ugly three-minute stretches are killing otherwise solid performances and costing teams tiebreakers that will matter when the regular-season dust settles.
NBA Standings snapshot: who is cruising, who is clinging on?
The top of the table still has a familiar feel: Boston setting the pace in the East, Denver and Oklahoma City stacking wins out West. Behind them, the pack is wild. The Lakers and Warriors are fighting through traffic, while teams like the Clippers, Timberwolves, and Suns are jockeying for home-court advantage. The Play-In window has essentially become its own mini-league.
Here is a compact look at some of the most important positions in the current playoff race. Exact win-loss records are changing nightly, but the relative tiers are clear: contenders, solid playoff teams, and bubble squads hanging around the Play-In line.
| Conference | Seed | Team | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| East | 1 | Boston Celtics | Title contender |
| East | 2-4 | Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks | Home-court mix |
| East | 5-6 | Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic | Solid playoff |
| East | 7-10 | Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls, Atlanta Hawks | Play-In bubble |
| West | 1-2 | Denver Nuggets, Oklahoma City Thunder | Title contender |
| West | 3-5 | Minnesota Timberwolves, LA Clippers, Phoenix Suns | Home-court mix |
| West | 6 | New Orleans Pelicans | Top-six edge |
| West | 7-10 | Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors | Play-In bubble |
That Play-In row is where the real drama lives. Every loss for the Lakers or Warriors feels like a gut punch because it is not just about the record; it is about tiebreakers and how many times you have to go on the road in win-or-go-home scenarios. One cold shooting night can decide whether you are scouting a first-round matchup or packing for an early vacation.
In the East, the Celtics have created enough of a cushion that they can afford a bad week without losing home-court across multiple rounds, but the middle of the conference is a knife fight. The Bucks and 76ers are dealing with health and rotation questions, while the Knicks and Cavs are quietly stacking gritty wins that might translate into a nasty, physical first-round series.
MVP race and player stats: Jokic, Giannis, Tatum, and the usual suspects
The MVP race has turned into a weekly referendum. One night Nikola Jokic throws up a casual triple-double, the next night Giannis Antetokounmpo detonates for a 40-point, 15-rebound clinic in transition. Jayson Tatum has had stretches where he looks like the best player on the best team, while Luka Doncic continues to post video-game stat lines just to give Dallas a chance most nights.
Look at the raw player stats and it is absurd: All-NBA guys hovering around 30 points per game, stuffing the box score with double-doubles and flirting with triple-doubles whenever the game script demands it. Efficiency is increasingly becoming the separator. Voters will remember who did it on 60 percent true shooting versus who needed 30 shots to get their 35 points.
Coaches around the league keep raving about how impossible it is to game-plan for these top-tier stars. One Western assistant talked about Jokic by saying, "You can’t take everything away. If you load up on his scoring, he picks you apart as a passer. If you stay home on shooters, he just walks you under the rim." The same is true, in different ways, for Curry, Giannis, and Luka. Pick your poison, hope your help defense is on a string, and pray they miss their usual makeable looks.
What might swing the MVP race is team success. A monster stat line on a Play-In team hits differently than similar numbers on a one- or two-seed. That’s where players like Tatum and Jokic have an edge: elite production anchored to elite records in the NBA standings. If Boston and Denver keep winning at this clip, it is going to be tough to ignore their cornerstone guys when ballots are due.
Injuries, rotations, and trade buzz reshaping the playoff picture
Injuries are the silent killer of momentum. A single tweak to a star’s ankle or a lingering hamstring for a key wing can flip a team from contender to question mark overnight. Several teams near the top have been juggling minutes restrictions, back-to-back rest nights, and cautious ramp-up plans just to get their stars to the postseason in one piece.
Role players are stepping into bigger minutes, which has created some surprise breakout performances but also some brutal growing pains. Coaches are experimenting with small-ball units, jumbo lineups, and switching-heavy defenses, trying to discover what will hold up in a seven-game series. Some of these rotation tweaks are sticking; others are clearly stopgaps until the full roster is healthy again.
On the transaction front, front offices are quietly working the phones. Teams hovering in the middle of the bracket are probing for one more two-way wing or a backup big who can hold the fort when the star sits. The asking price for reliable size and shooting is high, but if you are serious about a deep run, overpaying in draft capital suddenly feels a lot more palatable. The rumor mill is heating up, and you can feel locker rooms watching closely to see if management is really all-in.
What’s next: can the Lakers climb, can the Warriors hold, will the Celtics coast?
The next stretch of the schedule is a gauntlet for bubble teams. The Lakers are staring at a run of opponents stacked with elite guards and versatile forwards; if their defense does not travel, they risk sliding right back toward the wrong side of the Play-In line. For LeBron, that means more high-minute nights and more possessions where he has to be both creator and closer.
The Warriors face their own crossroads. If Curry continues to deliver vintage shooting nights and their young role players keep making strides on defense, Golden State can absolutely hold its ground or even creep up a seed or two. But the margin for error is razor thin. A short skid could drop them into a must-win road scenario against a hungry, physical opponent built to punish their lack of size.
Boston, by contrast, is playing from ahead, but there is still pressure. They have to manage minutes, keep Tatum and Brown fresh, and avoid the kind of late-season slippage that gives conference rivals belief. The Celtics know that anything short of a deep run will be framed as a disappointment, especially with how dominant they have looked at times in the regular season.
For fans, this is the sweet spot of the calendar. The NBA standings are tight enough that every night matters, live scores are flipping leads in real time, and the MVP race feels like it could swing with each big national TV game. Must-watch matchups over the coming days will feature direct seeding battles in both conferences – the kind of games that feel like May and June even though the calendar still says regular season.
If this trend continues, the final week is going to be absolute chaos: tie-breaking scenarios, last-minute rest decisions, and maybe a buzzer beater or two deciding which superstar gets a longer summer than expected. Stay locked in, refresh those live scores, and keep an eye on how Boston, the Lakers, the Warriors and the rest of the contenders navigate the crunch. The race is on, and the NBA standings board will not stop moving anytime soon.
