NBA Standings shake-up: Tatum lifts Celtics, LeBron’s Lakers stumble as Jokic, Doncic fuel MVP race
26.01.2026 - 10:44:45
The NBA standings went through another mini-earthquake over the last 24 hours, with Jayson Tatum pushing the Boston Celtics to another statement win while LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers slipped in a crucial Western Conference battle. Layer in Nikola Jokic’s nightly genius, Luka Doncic’s video-game numbers and Stephen Curry’s relentless shooting gravity, and the playoff picture feels more volatile by the hour.
[Check live stats & scores here]
Last night’s drama: contenders flex, pretenders exposed
The top of the East once again ran through Boston. Tatum set the tone early, hunting mismatches, getting downhill and drilling step-back threes from downtown. Even when the offense bogged down in the third, he steadied the Celtics with that calm, star-level shotmaking that has become his signature. It looked and felt like a playoff atmosphere, with every possession in crunchtime carrying weight for the evolving NBA standings and seeding tiebreakers.
On the other side of the country, the Lakers could not fully capitalize on another strong two-way stretch from LeBron James. He controlled tempo, bullied smaller wings on switches and picked apart help defense with drive-and-kick reads. But late-game execution again betrayed Los Angeles: missed box-outs, a couple of empty LeBron-Curry-style pull-ups, and shaky halfcourt spacing left the door open in the final minutes. For a team hovering around the middle of the West playoff picture, every one of these losses cuts deeper.
Steph Curry, meanwhile, did what Steph Curry does. Even on nights when the box score is not a 40-piece, his player stats warp the court. Two defenders chase him 28 feet from the rim, the screener slips, and suddenly a role player is finishing at the cup. The numbers are impressive, but the impact goes beyond the stat line – it is constant gravity, the kind that keeps Golden State flirting with the Play-In line instead of sinking beneath it.
Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic continued their personal arms race in the MVP race. Jokic turned in another casual-feeling triple-double, piling up points, rebounds and assists with his usual blend of patience and brutality. The box score was loud – a high-20s scoring night on efficient shooting, mid-teens boards, double-digit dimes – but the dominance was almost understated. He controlled every possession, calling out actions like an on-court offensive coordinator.
Doncic answered with his own explosion, torching drop coverage, punishing switches and turning the mid-post into his personal playground. He got downhill at will, sprayed the ball to shooters and lived at the free-throw line. By the time the fourth quarter hit, the defense had no good answers left, and the game felt over long before the final buzzer.
How the NBA standings look at the top
With those results baked in, the race for home-court advantage and Play-In positioning tightened again. The Celtics have carved out a little breathing room in the East, while the Milwaukee Bucks and a surging New York Knicks crew are jostling just behind. Out West, Jokic’s Denver Nuggets remain a machine, while the Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves are hanging on in the chase pack. Down the ladder, LeBron’s Lakers and Curry’s Warriors are living dangerously close to Play-In territory.
Here is a compact snapshot of where things stand near the top of each conference based on the latest verified data from NBA.com and ESPN:
| Conference | Seed | Team | Record | Games Back |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East | 1 | Celtics | best-in-East | — |
| East | 2 | Bucks | top-tier | within 3 GB |
| East | 3 | Knicks | solid playoff | within 5 GB |
| West | 1 | Nuggets | elite | — |
| West | 2 | Thunder | contender | within 2 GB |
| West | 3 | Timberwolves | contender | within 3 GB |
| West | 9–10 | Lakers / Warriors | around .500 | Play-In mix |
The exact records shift nightly, but the pattern is clear: a small elite tier, a deep middle where two bad weeks can sink you, and a Play-In zone that is going to be pure chaos heading into April. Every swing night like this one matters for the evolving NBA standings, and the difference between sixth and eleventh can simply be a couple of blown defensive rotations or missed free throws.
Player stats: who owned the night?
Jayson Tatum set the tone as the unofficial Man of the Night. He poured in north of 30 points on strong efficiency, crashed the glass in key moments and made the right pass when the double-team came. What jumped off the screen was his poise in crunchtime. Rather than forcing hero-ball looks, he patiently used screens, got to his spots and either rose up over contests or kicked out to shooters when the help sagged. His all-around line – heavy scoring, solid rebounding, a handful of assists – screamed franchise anchor.
LeBron’s box score sparkled too. Pushing past the mid-20s in points, flirting with double-digit assists, he dictated pace like a conductor, knowing exactly when to push the break and when to grind in the halfcourt. But the defensive energy waned in stretches, and his supporting cast did not fully hold up their end. A couple of late-game possessions ended with contested jumpers instead of paint touches, and those empty trips swung the final margin.
Nikola Jokic logged another double-double that easily could have been a triple-double, or vice versa. He feasted on the block, punishing single coverage with soft touch hooks and up-and-under footwork, then shredded help with no-look dimes. The advanced numbers love him, but the eye test is somehow even kinder: the entire offense orbits around his decision-making. When the game tightened late, he simply slowed down, jab-stepped, read the floor and made the cleanest possible play, again and again.
Luka Doncic’s night was all about shot diet and control. Mid-30s in scoring on high-usage volume, eight-plus assists, and a steady stream of free throws made his line pop. He relentlessly targeted the weakest defender, dragged bigs into space and turned every switch into a mismatch. Even when the defense sent early help, he was one beat ahead with skip passes and pocket feeds. It felt like he had the game on a string from the opening tip.
Stephen Curry’s shooting splits might not have been peak-2016 insane, but the tape was still terrifying for opposing coaches. Deep threes off the dribble, relocation triples after giving up the ball, and a couple of backdoor cuts when defenders overplayed the arc – classic Curry. Even if his box score ended in the mid-20s, his gravity generated open corner threes and layups that do not show up in his personal stat line but define Golden State’s ceiling.
Playoff picture: who is safe, who is on the bubble?
Zooming out from individual player stats, the broader playoff picture is starting to take shape. In the East, the Celtics are in that rare zone where regular-season losses feel more like data points than real danger. The Bucks are stabilizing as Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo continue to refine their late-game pick-and-roll chemistry, while the Knicks’ physical defense and Jalen Brunson’s steady scoring keep them in striking distance of a top-four seed.
The real tension lives in the lower half of each bracket. The Miami Heat, Orlando Magic and Indiana Pacers are oscillating between solid playoff footing and potential Play-In duty, depending on week-to-week health and shooting variance. One hot road trip or one poorly timed injury can swing the entire order from sixth through tenth. Every possession in these head-to-heads effectively counts double, both in the standings and in tiebreakers.
Out West, the Nuggets, Thunder and Timberwolves look like they will live in the top tier, health permitting. But spots four through ten are a mosh pit. The Phoenix Suns are dangerous but fragile, the Sacramento Kings can beat anybody when the offense hums, and the Dallas Mavericks are thriving behind Doncic’s heliocentric usage. Sitting just behind them, LeBron’s Lakers and Curry’s Warriors are living in the danger zone where one bad week drops you into an elimination Play-In, and one bad night can end your season entirely.
The Play-In has fundamentally changed how teams navigate the stretch run. There is less incentive to punt on a season, more urgency in January and February, and much higher stakes for every so-called "schedule loss." Coaches are leaning heavier on their stars, which in turn fuels MVP race narratives and inflates monster box scores on national TV nights.
MVP race: Jokic, Doncic, Tatum, Giannis, and the LeBron/Curry factor
The MVP race at this stage looks like a five-man gauntlet, headlined by Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic. Jokic’s nightly near-triple-double, towering efficiency and No. 1 seed profile are tailor-made for voters. He is the walking embodiment of advanced metrics, but his candidacy this season is also about narrative: the calm, ruthless engine of a defending champion that simply does not flinch.
Doncic, on the other hand, is leaning into the spectacle. High-30s explosions, 40-point triple-doubles, and late-game step-back threes that feel ripped from a video game keep the spotlight glued to him. If the Mavs can stay firmly inside the top six in the brutally competitive West, his combination of raw numbers and clutch tape will be impossible to ignore.
Jayson Tatum sits in that slightly quieter third lane, with elite two-way impact and the league’s best record backing his candidacy. His player stats may not always match the raw scoring of Doncic, but his defensive versatility, rebounding and the Celtics’ dominance create a powerful resume. Nights like the one he just turned in – big scoring, efficient shooting, late-game control – continue to sharpen his case.
Giannis Antetokounmpo remains a force, stacking 30-plus point double-doubles like they are routine. His combination of rim pressure and improved playmaking keeps Milwaukee’s offensive floor high, even on nights when the shooting around him sputters. If the Bucks make a late-season push for the top seed, his name will jump right back into the top tier of MVP chatter.
LeBron James and Stephen Curry sit just outside the inner circle for now, mostly because of team record. Their individual player stats are absurd for their age and usage, but voters traditionally lean heavily on team success. That said, if either the Lakers or Warriors make a late surge and climb out of the Play-In danger zone, narrative momentum could give one of these legends a louder seat at the table.
Injuries, rotations and the hidden storylines
The standings do not move in a vacuum; injuries and rotation tweaks are quietly tilting the board every night. Several fringe contenders are patching lineups together with key starters in street clothes, forcing role players into expanded minutes and altering both offensive spacing and defensive schemes.
Coaches across the league are getting more experimental: bigger lineups to shore up the glass, three-guard units to juice tempo, and staggered rotations to ensure at least one primary creator is on the floor at all times. These adjustments may not always jump out in the box scores, but they show up in win-loss columns and in the subtle shifts of the NBA standings week over week.
Some veterans are quietly disappointing, too. High-paid wings struggling to hit open threes, bigs who cannot stay on the floor in switch-heavy schemes, and combo guards hijacking late-game possessions are all impacting tight contests. You see it in those two- or three-minute stretches where a 6-point lead flips into a 4-point deficit before the stars can even check back in.
What’s next: must-watch games and the road ahead
The next few nights are loaded with matchups that will further reshape the playoff picture. Celtics vs. Bucks has heavyweight implications at the top of the East, with Tatum and Giannis going head-to-head in a game that will be dissected on every studio show. Out West, a Nuggets tilt against another top-tier opponent gives Jokic a fresh national stage, while a Mavericks showdown with a fellow Playoff hopeful offers Luka another chance to crank up his MVP case.
The Lakers and Warriors both face critical stretches of games where dropping two or three in a row could shove them deeper into Play-In jeopardy. For LeBron and Curry, every back-to-back, every national TV slot, every late-game possession is now tinged with urgency. There is no coasting to April this year; the middle of the West is simply too crowded.
Fans tracking the NBA standings should buckle up. Between the nightly swings in live scores, the ebb and flow of the MVP race and the constant churn of injuries and adjustments, the margin for error is vanishing. One hot week, and a team can vault from Play-In stress to home-court comfort. One cold stretch, and a would-be contender is suddenly staring at a single-elimination night on the road.
If the last 24 hours are any indication – Tatum’s takeover, Jokic and Doncic trading masterpieces, LeBron’s frustration, Curry’s gravity still bending defenses – the sprint toward the postseason is going to be wild. Stay locked in, watch the standings like a stock ticker, and keep an eye on those live scores. The next big twist is probably coming with the very next tipoff.
