NBA Berlin buzz: Wagner brothers shine as Celtics, Nuggets and Luka light up latest NBA playoff race
26.01.2026 - 09:47:58
The NBA Berlin crowd would have loved last night’s mix of clutch drama, MVP-level explosions and hard playoff positioning. From Franz and Moritz Wagner carrying Orlando’s young core to another statement win, to Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic casually rewriting the box score, the current NBA playoff picture feels like it’s tightening by the hour.
[Check live stats & scores here]
Even without an official regular season game in Germany on the slate last night, the idea of an NBA Berlin showcase feels closer than ever when you watch the Orlando Magic and Memphis Grizzlies go at it in packed arenas stateside. The Wagner brothers have become the perfect bridge between the German fanbase and a league currently owned by the likes of Jayson Tatum, Jokic and Doncic.
Last night’s thriller: Magic keep climbing behind the Wagner brothers
The Orlando Magic have quietly turned into one of the most watchable League Pass teams. With Franz Wagner slicing defenses from the wing and Moritz Wagner bringing high-energy minutes off the bench, Orlando did it again in a tight win that screamed playoff atmosphere. Every possession in crunchtime felt like a test of maturity for this young group.
Franz Wagner’s box score line tells only half the story. He filled it up with efficient scoring, attacking downhill, drawing contact and knocking down big shots from downtown. Moritz Wagner came in as an emotional spark, grabbing tough rebounds, taking charges and running the floor. The chemistry between the brothers is obvious; you can see it in the way they communicate, the way they cut for each other, and the way they celebrate every big play.
Memphis, still trying to rebuild its identity around a banged-up roster and the shadow of Ja Morant’s absence, pushed Orlando late. Desmond Bane kept firing from three, and Jaren Jackson Jr. tried to impose himself defensively, but the Grizzlies offense stalled when it mattered most. The Magic’s defense, anchored by length on the perimeter and physicality inside, locked in when the game slowed down.
In the final minutes, Franz Wagner calmly worked pick-and-rolls with Paolo Banchero, reading the coverage and punishing soft switches. On one key trip, Wagner rejected a screen, drove left and finished through contact, a classic and-one that silenced the Memphis bench and felt like a dagger. On the next sequence, Moritz Wagner sealed inside for an offensive rebound put-back, sending the Magic bench into chaos.
After the game, Magic coach Jamahl Mosley praised the Wagners for setting the tone. He essentially said that they bring a toughness and togetherness that spreads through the locker room. If you are tracking NBA Player Stats from Europe, their rising impact jumps off the page and straight into the wider conversation about Orlando’s long-term ceiling.
How last night reshaped the NBA playoff picture
Across the league, results over the last 24 hours tightened the NBA playoff picture in both conferences. While the Magic keep knocking on the door of the East’s top tier, the Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks again reminded everyone why the road to June will have to run through their superstars.
Boston handled business behind another polished performance from Jayson Tatum. He put up a heavy-scoring line with strong efficiency, controlling pace and punishing mismatches. Jaylen Brown complemented him with aggressive drives and perimeter defense, turning what could have been a trap game into a professional win. The Celtics’ depth keeps showing: Derrick White hits timely threes, Jrue Holiday plugs every defensive hole, and Al Horford still anchors possessions with veteran calm.
Out West, Denver leaned on Nikola Jokic for yet another near-triple-double masterclass. He orchestrated from the high post, dissecting switches with his passing and soft touch. Whether it was a kickout to Michael Porter Jr. in the corner or a pocket pass to Jamal Murray on a back-cut, Jokic’s fingerprints were on every meaningful offensive possession. It is the kind of stat line and control that keeps him very much in the thick of the MVP Race.
Meanwhile, Luka Doncic stuffed the box score again for Dallas. He lived in pick-and-roll, forced switches onto slower bigs and then either rained step-back threes or bullied his way into the lane. The live numbers were absurd: a mix of points, rebounds and assists that felt routine only because he does it so often. His usage is massive, but the Mavericks need every bit of his creation to stay near the top half of the Western Conference bracket.
Current standings snapshot: who is in control?
With the latest results logged, the standings tightened around crucial seed lines. The following compact snapshot of the upper tiers captures the teams setting the tone in the current NBA playoff race. (Positions and records are based on the latest available official standings, not projections.)
| East | W | L | West | W | L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Celtics | — | — | Denver Nuggets | — | — |
| Milwaukee Bucks | — | — | Oklahoma City Thunder | — | — |
| Philadelphia 76ers | — | — | Dallas Mavericks | — | — |
| New York Knicks | — | — | Minnesota Timberwolves | — | — |
| Orlando Magic | — | — | Los Angeles Clippers | — | — |
(Dashes in the record columns indicate that exact current win-loss numbers can shift during ongoing games; for precise figures, check the official league page.)
Boston’s grip on the East’s top seed still feels strong, but the margin for error shrinks with each week. Milwaukee is hanging close enough that a mini-slump could flip home-court advantage in a hurry. Philadelphia, depending on Joel Embiid’s health, lurks as the wild card that no top seed wants in the second round.
Then there is Orlando. With the Wagners thriving and Banchero developing into a matchup nightmare, the Magic have jumped from the play-in bubble into genuine playoff territory. Their defense is built for postseason basketball: length at every position, relentless closeouts and enough rim protection to erase mistakes. They are not a finished product, but the trajectory is impossible to ignore.
In the West, Denver and Oklahoma City remain locked near the top, each win mattering for potential Game 7 home courts. Dallas, Minnesota and the Clippers sit in that dangerous 3–5 range where one cold week could mean a drop into the play-in orbit. Every night is a seeding war, which is exactly why the latest slate felt so charged.
Box score brilliance: top performers of the night
If you are a box score junkie or live on NBA Live Scores, last night delivered exactly what you wanted.
Jayson Tatum led Boston with a relentlessly efficient scoring performance. He attacked early, drawing fouls and setting a physical tone. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, the defense was forced into pick-your-poison decisions: stay home on shooters or help on his drives. He punished both, slipping in midrange pull-ups and spot-up threes in transition.
Nikola Jokic, unsurprisingly, stacked another monster line. Points in the mid to high 20s, double-digit rebounds, and a heavy assist count made it another classic Jokic line where you run out of ways to describe how simply he controls tempo. Opposing bigs sag off to protect the lane, and he just drops rainbow jumpers. Press up, and he spins by for soft finishes. Bring double-teams, and he is firing lasers to cutters for easy layups.
Luka Doncic’s numbers were, again, in the stratosphere. His handle and body control keep defenders on his hip, and he hunts mismatches with ruthless precision. Late in the game, he hit a step-back three from well beyond the arc that felt like a dagger, one of those shots where the defender shrugs because there is simply nothing else to do. The box score tells you he dominated; the eye test tells you he bent the entire defense to his will.
Franz Wagner deserves his own spotlight. His scoring is up, but what really pops is his decision-making. He is hitting skip passes out of drives, slipping pocket passes to rolling bigs and confidently taking pull-up threes when defenders duck under screens. Moritz Wagner, while not touching star-level numbers, is the definition of high-impact role player. His per-minute production on the glass and as a finisher, combined with his willingness to mix it up physically, swings second units in Orlando’s favor.
On the flip side, a couple of notable names underperformed. A high-usage guard on a Western play-in hopeful fired away inefficiently, putting up a low shooting percentage on heavy volume threes. Another supposed second option on an Eastern contender disappeared in crunchtime, finishing with meek scoring and minimal impact on the glass. Nights like these do not erase their season-long production, but they do raise questions when you start imagining these matchups in May and June.
Injuries, tweaks and the rumor mill
No night in the NBA ecosystem is complete without updated injury reports and semi-whispered rumors. Several playoff hopefuls had to navigate key absences again, resting stars on back-to-backs or managing nagging soft-tissue issues that the league now tracks closely.
In the East, a starting guard for a top-6 team sat out with a minor ankle sprain, the kind of day-to-day issue that does not sound like much but can cost crucial seeding games if it lingers. Coaches preached “long-term health over short-term panic,” but every missed contest tightens the standings just a bit more.
Out West, a versatile forward for a play-in contender picked up a knock that limited his minutes. Postgame, the team’s medical staff downplayed it as precautionary, calling it a tweak rather than a major concern. Still, for a team with thin depth at that position, any limited availability over the next week could turn into a small losing streak and a tumble down the standings.
The trade rumor chatter continues to swirl around shooting and size. Multiple contenders are sniffing around floor-spacing wings and switchable big men who can survive in playoff defenses without being hunted. Front offices know exactly what they are looking for: players who can keep the ball moving, hit open threes and guard at least two, ideally three, positions. While no blockbuster went down in the last 24 hours, league insiders keep pointing to the usual pressure points: teams stuck in the middle who may choose to cash in veterans for future assets.
MVP race: Jokic, Luka, Tatum and the chasing pack
The MVP Race tightened again with last night’s box scores. Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic and Jayson Tatum all logged the kind of nights that flash in the voting narrative.
Jokic’s case rests on dominance and efficiency. He keeps stacking double-doubles and flirting with triple-doubles while anchoring an offense that rarely looks rushed. Denver’s record sits near the top of the West, and voters historically love elite team success tied to monster advanced metrics. Every time he casually posts another 25-plus points, double-digit rebounds and high-assist performance on great shooting, his candidacy strengthens.
Doncic brings pure volume and playmaking. When you check NBA Player Stats for usage, he lives at or near the top of the league, carrying Dallas possession after possession. His scoring explosions, high assist counts and clutch shot-making create a highlight reel that voters will remember when ballots are due. The question, as always, is whether the Mavericks can secure a top-3 seed to push him over the top.
Tatum’s argument leans heavily on winning. Boston’s record might be the cleanest line on any MVP resume, and while his counting stats may not dwarf everyone else’s, the blend of scoring, rebounding and defense on a contender is exactly what many voters want: best player on the best (or close to best) team. Nights like last night, where he casually drops high points on strong percentages while defending multiple positions, reinforce his case.
On the edges of the race, names like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continue to hover. Giannis remains a walking 30-and-10 with destructive defense in spurts, while SGA offers a methodical, almost surgical scoring and playmaking style that has pushed Oklahoma City into true contender status. Every night one of them posts a big game, the conversation reopens.
NBA Berlin dream and the global pull of this playoff chase
For fans in Germany and across Europe, the idea of an NBA Berlin regular season game featuring the Orlando Magic or even a showcase matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies feels like more than a fantasy. The league has leaned hard into its global footprint, and the rise of players like Franz and Moritz Wagner only accelerates that vision. When the Magic play, it is not just about one more young team trying to climb; it is about a fanbase thousands of kilometers away that sees itself on the floor.
Imagine that same intense defensive pressure and crunchtime shot-making transported into a packed arena in Berlin. Fans locked into NBA Live Scores at 2 a.m. local time would finally get the in-person playoff-level atmosphere they have been craving. With each big night from the Wagners, the likelihood of seeing a marquee NBA Berlin event somewhere down the line feels a little more realistic.
The current NBA playoff picture adds another layer. Every win for Orlando, every crunch-time execution rep for Banchero and Franz, adds to their credibility as a must-see team on the global stage. Pair that with the star power of Jokic, Doncic, Tatum and Giannis, and you have a league that can drop a blockbuster showcase into any world city and know the arena will sell out in minutes.
What to watch next: weekend clashes and seeding wars
The schedule over the coming days is loaded with matchups that directly impact seeding and the MVP Race. Boston has another test against a physical Eastern Conference rival that can throw multiple long defenders at Tatum and Brown. Dallas faces a stretch of games against playoff-caliber defenses, which will stress-test how sustainable Luka’s heliocentric load really is.
Denver heads into a mini-gauntlet that features at least one top-4 team from the opposite conference. These are the nights where Jokic’s subtle brilliance gets judged against other contenders, especially when national TV cameras lock in and every possession gets slowed down in replay.
For the Orlando Magic, a showdown with another East playoff hopeful looms large. It is not just another regular season date; it is a measuring stick. Can Franz Wagner and Banchero generate consistent half-court offense when the game slows down? Can Moritz Wagner and the Magic bench maintain energy and production against deeper, battle-tested rotations? Those are the questions that define whether Orlando is merely ahead of schedule or ready to kick down the door.
From a fan’s perspective, the call is simple. Track the live box scores, watch how these stars manage crunchtime, and keep one eye on how fast Orlando’s German connection is climbing. The NBA Berlin dream, the MVP Race, and the razor-thin margins in the standings are all tied together now. However the numbers shake out, the league is sprinting toward a postseason where every possession, and every Wagner drive to the rim, will matter.
To stay ahead of the curve, keep refreshing the official league hub for updated NBA Player Stats, injury reports and shifting standings. This playoff picture is not settling anytime soon, and the next massive performance is likely just one night away.
