NBA Standings shakeup: LeBron’s Lakers fall, Tatum’s Celtics roll while Curry keeps Warriors’ Playoff hopes alive
24.01.2026 - 06:39:10
The NBA Standings tightened overnight as the Boston Celtics, led by Jayson Tatum, kept flexing like a title favorite, Stephen Curry dragged the Golden State Warriors further back into the Western Conference Playoff picture, and LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers took a hit that could matter when the seedings lock in. It felt less like a random January slate and more like an early checkpoint in a marathon season.
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Across the league, last night delivered everything you want from mid-season NBA drama: crunch-time shot-making, shifting Playoff picture narratives, and another reminder that the margin for error between home-court advantage and the Play-In is razor-thin.
Celtics send a message, Tatum stays in MVP Race
Boston once again looked like the most complete group in basketball. Jayson Tatum led the way with a high-efficiency scoring night, punishing mismatches from the mid-post and raining from downtown when defenders went under. His Player Stats line underscored why his name keeps popping up in the MVP Race conversation: elite scoring, strong rebounding from the wing, and the kind of late-game decision-making that anchors a contender.
What stood out was the balance. Jaylen Brown attacked the rim with force, Kristaps Porzingis stretched the floor and protected the paint, and Jrue Holiday turned defense into instant offense with pressure at the point of attack. Boston’s Game Highlights were a reel of drive-and-kick triples and suffocating team Defense that turned a close game into a statement win.
In the updated NBA Standings, the Celtics remain perched near the top of the Eastern Conference, creating a little more separation from the chasing pack. Boston is not just stacking wins; it is building habits that look very postseason-ready.
LeBron and the Lakers slip in a costly Western battle
On the other side of the country, the Lakers learned the hard way how unforgiving the West has become. LeBron James once again flirted with a triple-double, orchestrating the offense and keeping his foot on the gas in transition. Anthony Davis posted another strong Double-Double, controlling the glass and erasing shots at the rim.
But when it mattered most, Los Angeles could not string together stops. Opponents targeted their perimeter rotations, knocked down open looks from deep, and turned late-game possessions into a clinic in poise. The result was a loss that nudged the Lakers down the Western Conference ladder and tightened the Play-In race behind them.
Afterward, the tone from the locker room was blunt. Darvin Ham emphasized that the team "has to treat every night like it’s April, not January" and pointed to defensive breakdowns in Crunchtime as the difference. LeBron echoed the urgency, noting that the West is too deep to "give away winnable games" and expect the standings to take care of themselves.
Curry keeps Warriors breathing in the Playoff picture
Out in the Bay, Stephen Curry once again looked like the league’s ultimate floor-raiser. Golden State, dangerously close to drifting out of realistic contention a couple of weeks ago, got another vintage performance from their superstar guard. Curry filled the box score with a barrage of threes, creative finishes at the rim and timely playmaking, pushing the Warriors back toward the Western Play-In mix.
His Player Stats line was the kind that swings MVP conversations on talk shows even if his team is hovering around .500: high 30s in points, strong efficiency from beyond the arc and just enough assists to weaponize the shooters around him. Every time the opponent threatened to build a run, Curry answered with a deep three or a crafty step-back jumper that felt like a gut punch to the crowd on the other side.
Steve Kerr, while praising Curry, also tipped his cap to the role players who hit open shots and competed defensively. Still, this is Curry’s world. When he shoots like this, the Warriors’ ceiling looks a tier higher than their record suggests, and their place in the NBA Standings becomes less about survival and more about who they might scare in a short series.
Quick look at the current NBA Standings race
The reshuffling from last night’s action did not blow up the board, but it did tighten several key tiers: the race for the top seed, the battle for home court and the scrum between seeds six through ten in the West.
Here is a compact, snapshot-style look at how the top of each conference and the critical Western Play-In band are shaping up based on the latest official listings from NBA.com and ESPN:
| Conference | Team | Record | Trend | Seed/Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East | Boston Celtics | Top tier | Surging | 1–2 range |
| East | Milwaukee Bucks | Top tier | Stabilizing | Home-court zone |
| East | Philadelphia 76ers | Top mix | Embiid-driven | Top 4 hunt |
| West | Denver Nuggets | Elite | Steady | 1–3 range |
| West | Minnesota Timberwolves | Top mix | Defensive juggernaut | Home-court hunt |
| West | Oklahoma City Thunder | Rising | Young core | Top 4 mix |
| West | LA Lakers | Middle pack | Inconsistent | Play-In danger |
| West | Golden State Warriors | Below top tier | Climbing | Play-In range |
This is not a strict numeric table but a status map of where the power balance sits. Denver, anchored by Nikola Jokic, continues to look like a multi-gear machine even when it coasts through stretches of the regular season. Minnesota and Oklahoma City are no longer cute storylines; they are legitimate threats with the defensive metrics and clutch-time profiles to back it up.
In the East, Milwaukee’s star duo and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid are doing enough to keep Boston from running away with the top seed, but right now the Celtics have the cleaner resume and the sharper two-way identity. Down the ladder, the difference between avoiding the Play-In and falling into a one-game elimination scenario is a bad week away for teams like the Lakers and Warriors.
Top-Performer spotlight: Embiid and Jokic keep redefining normal
On the MVP Radar, it is still a big-man world. Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic are playing at a level where their nightly box scores read like something out of a video game.
Embiid continues to put up monstrous Player Stats with scoring nights that hover around the mid-30s alongside strong rebounding and playmaking. When he gets rolling, the Philadelphia 76ers’ offense becomes almost unguardable: he draws doubles in the post, kicks out to shooters and punishes single coverage with brute strength. His recent stretch has included efficient 30-plus point outings while controlling the glass and providing enough rim protection to anchor the back line.
Jokic, meanwhile, remains the league’s ultimate offensive hub. Even on nights when the scoring totals stay in the 20s rather than the 30s, he stacks rebounds and assists, walking into casual Triple-Double territory. The way he manipulates defensive coverages is almost unfair: one possession he is hitting cutters for easy layups, the next he is draining a late-clock three over a contest from well beyond the arc.
These two are not just stat monsters; they shape everything about their team’s game plan. Both Philadelphia and Denver build their identity around their superstar bigs, and the MVP Race is once again tilting toward whoever can blend dominance with wins as the season grinds toward the stretch run.
Injury notes and what they mean for the race
No conversation about the NBA Standings is complete without mentioning health. Around the league, several teams are juggling absences that directly shape their ceilings.
In Los Angeles, any minor issue for LeBron James or Anthony Davis immediately changes the math. The Lakers’ margin for error is thin enough that even a short-term absence can flip them from middle seed dreams to Play-In anxiety. It is the same story in Golden State, where keeping Curry upright and fresh is the only non-negotiable for a team that leans heavily on its superstar’s gravity.
Other contenders are dealing with the usual mid-season bumps and tweaks. Coaching staffs are trying to steal rest days where they can without throwing away games in an ultra-competitive environment. Every DNP in January can ripple into seeding implications in April, especially for teams stacked in the middle of the bracket.
Game Highlights that defined the night
A few sequences will live on the highlight loops:
In Boston’s win, a late third-quarter run blew the game open. Tatum drilled a step-back three over a switched big, Brown followed with a transition dunk, and Holiday capped it with a corner triple off a skip pass that had the crowd roaring. It was classic Celtics basketball: defend, run, share and bury teams with threes.
LeBron’s Lakers tried to script their own comeback, with James bullying his way to the rim and spraying passes to shooters in Crunchtime. For a couple of possessions, it looked like another trademark LeBron take-over. But a couple of missed looks from downtown and one costly turnover flipped the narrative, turning a potential feel-good rally into a gut-punch loss.
Over in the Bay, Curry’s deep three from just inside the logo midway through the fourth might as well have been a flare signal. The opponent’s shoulders slumped, the Chase Center crowd exploded, and Golden State smelled blood. It was the signature Game Highlight on a night where every big shot felt like a must-have.
What’s next: Must-watch games and looming shifts
The next few days on the schedule offer several matchups that could further twist the NBA Standings and fuel MVP debates.
The Celtics face another tough test against a playoff-caliber opponent, a measuring-stick game that will show whether their current form travels and holds up against elite Defense. Boston’s ability to keep building separation in the East hinges on winning these higher-leverage nights.
For the Lakers and Warriors, the upcoming stretch is all about stacking wins and avoiding letdowns. One slip against a lottery team can erase the good vibes from a signature win. LeBron and Curry both know the drill: stay healthy, treat every night like a mini-Playoff game and drag their teams clear of the Play-In danger zone.
In the West’s upper tier, teams like the Nuggets and Thunder have chances to bank wins against squads still figuring themselves out. Every cushion they build now could be the difference between resting stars in the final week and sweating out seeding tiebreakers.
Fans tracking Live Scores and box scores over the weekend should keep an eye on back-to-backs, travel spots and how coaches manage minutes. Fatigue, even subtly, can swing quarters and ultimately games that end up mattering when tie-break scenarios come into play.
As we move deeper into the heart of the schedule, the NBA Standings stop feeling like a casual reference and start to resemble a pressure gauge. Boston’s surge, LeBron and Curry’s fight to stay in the mix, and the nightly fireworks in the MVP Race ensure that every slate carries weight. For hoops fans, it is simple: lock into the next few nights, because the seeds for April and May storylines are being planted right now.
