NBA Standings shake-up: Celtics, Nuggets hold ground as LeBron’s Lakers and Curry’s Warriors scrap for position
03.02.2026 - 12:00:56
The NBA standings tightened again as the league rolled into early February, with the Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets still looking like title favorites while LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers and Stephen Curry’s Golden State Warriors are fighting for every inch of playoff real estate. In a season where one bad week can drop you from contender to crisis mode, every possession suddenly feels like crunchtime.
[Check live stats & scores here]
Across the league, the NBA standings board tells the story: Boston continues to pace the East with the best record in basketball, powered by Jayson Tatum and a ruthless starting five, while Denver’s blend of Nikola Jokic brilliance and championship poise keeps them near the top out West. Behind them, the pack is chaotic. The Thunder, Timberwolves and Clippers are jostling for seeding, and the Lakers and Warriors are living in that dangerous zone where one mini-slump can mean play-in instead of playoffs.
Game recap and last-night drama: Stars carrying the load
On any given night this season, the scoreboard feels like a highlight reel. Tatum keeps stacking efficient 30-point outings, casually bending defenses off the dribble and from downtown. In Denver, Jokic is still playing the game in slow motion while everyone else is sprinting, dissecting defenses with triple-double level lines that have become almost routine. Even when he does not officially hit a triple-double, his box scores live in the neighborhood: points in the high 20s, double-digit rebounds, and 7-plus assists on absurd shooting splits.
LeBron James, in Year 21, continues to function as the Lakers’ offensive engine. On their best nights, he is flirting with 30 points, bullying smaller wings in the post and turning missed shots into transition sprints for easy buckets. When Anthony Davis is locked in, Los Angeles looks like a team no one wants to see in a seven-game series. When Davis drifts, the Lakers’ margin for error evaporates, and you can see it in the late-game offensive stagnation and defensive breakdowns.
For the Warriors, Steph Curry remains the heartbeat. His off-ball movement, relocation threes and deep pull-ups can still swing a game in two minutes. But Golden State’s problem has been everything around him: inconsistent shooting from role players, up-and-down defense and late-game turnovers that feel more like self-sabotage than bad luck. The box score most nights shows Curry carrying the scoring load while the bench units struggle to hold leads.
Coaches around the league keep hammering the same theme after games: "We can’t spot great teams a quarter and expect to come back," as one Western Conference coach put it after his team was run off the floor in the first half. That sentiment is baked into every big run and blown lead in this phase of the season, where playoff intensity starts to creep in weeks before the bracket is set.
NBA standings snapshot: Who is climbing, who is slipping?
The current NBA standings paint a clear picture at the top and a wild logjam in the middle. The Celtics own the inside track in the East, while Denver’s experience keeps them near the peak of the West. Teams like the Thunder and Timberwolves are no longer cute stories; they are legitimate threats, fueled by elite defense and young stars who are no longer scared of the moment.
Here is a compact look at how the top of each conference and the play-in mix is shaping up right now:
| Conference | Seed | Team | Record | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East | 1 | Boston Celtics | League-best record | Tatum & Brown leading a two-way juggernaut |
| East | 2 | Milwaukee Bucks | Top-tier | Giannis dominating; defense still under the microscope |
| East | 3 | Philadelphia 76ers | Upper tier | Embiid’s health looms large over their playoff ceiling |
| West | 1 | Denver Nuggets | Near top of West | Jokic in full control, championship habits intact |
| West | 2 | Oklahoma City Thunder | Top-tier | Young core defending, SGA playing like an MVP candidate |
| West | 3 | Minnesota Timberwolves | Top-tier | Elite defense; Edwards taking big-star shots |
| West | 7-10 | Lakers / Warriors mix | Play-in zone | LeBron and Curry trying to drag flawed rosters upward |
No matter which site you check, from the official league page to ESPN, the story is consistent: the top seeds have a little breathing room, but not enough to coast. The real tension is in that 5-through-10 range. One mini winning streak can launch you into home-court advantage; one bad week can push you straight into the play-in gauntlet, where a cold shooting night can end your season.
Teams on the bubble know it. You can hear it in postgame comments: players openly talk about scoreboard watching in the locker room, checking how the Lakers, Warriors, Kings or Mavericks did before they even take off their sneakers. In this era of compressed standings, there is no such thing as an irrelevant February box score.
MVP race and top player stats: Jokic, Tatum and the usual suspects
The MVP race has crystallized around a familiar group of names, with Jokic and Tatum at the center and stars like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander pressing the issue. The advanced metrics, eye test and team success all keep pulling the conversation back to Denver and Boston.
Jokic’s player stats are still a cheat code. Night after night, he hovers around 25-plus points, double-digit rebounds and top-tier assist numbers for a center, while shooting north of 55 percent from the field. He orchestrates every Nuggets possession, functioning as both point guard and safety valve. When Denver needs a bucket in crunchtime, they calmly dump it into Jokic at the elbow and let him pick between a soft floater, a step-back, or a no-look dime to a cutting wing.
Tatum’s MVP case is built on volume, versatility and wins. He logs efficient high-20s scoring nights, spreads the floor from three, and defends multiple positions. The Celtics’ net rating soars when he is on the court, and he is rarely overwhelmed by double-teams, often making the right read to find shooters in the corners. Some nights, he plays closer; other nights, he plays connector. That malleability is the engine behind Boston’s dominance in the NBA standings.
Giannis remains a nightly terror, bulldozing to the rim for 30-plus points, a pile of free throws and a steady stream of double-doubles. His playmaking has quietly stayed strong, but Milwaukee’s defensive inconsistency has kept his MVP narrative slightly behind the Jokic/Tatum duo.
Meanwhile, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has turned Oklahoma City into a legitimate top-three seed. He is putting up around 30 points with ruthless efficiency, living in the midrange, getting to the line and locking in defensively. When the Thunder grind through close games, it is often SGA walking the ball up, calling his own number and burying contested jumpers that deflate veteran opponents.
LeBron and Curry are still putting up All-NBA level numbers, but team records have them a half-step behind in the MVP conversation. Their player stats still pop: high-20s scoring, strong assist numbers and stretches of absolute offensive brilliance. Yet in this era, voters tie MVP votes tightly to top-tier records, which makes every Lakers and Warriors loss a subtle hit to their cases.
Injuries, rumors and how they impact the playoff picture
Across the league, injury reports and rumor mills are shaping the playoff picture as much as any box score. Coaches are constantly juggling minutes to protect stars from overuse while still chasing wins in a brutally tight race.
Front offices are staring at the standings board and doing a cold calculus: Are we one move away from really competing with the Celtics and Nuggets, or are we a year early? That thought process drives every trade rumor surrounding fringe contenders and veteran-heavy teams hovering around .500.
When a star sits, the ripple effect is immediate. The offense stalls, role players are thrust into shot-creation roles they are not built for, and defenses can load up on the remaining threats. One coach summed it up this week: "You take an MVP-level guy out of any lineup and our margin goes from thin to basically zero." In a conference where seeds 5 through 10 are separated by only a handful of games, two or three such nights can flip home-court advantage or send a team spiraling into the play-in.
Playoff picture, must-watch games and what is next
The playoff picture is far from settled, but the outlines are clear. Boston and Denver have that "we’ve been here before" calm; they are pacing themselves without slipping. The Thunder and Timberwolves are playing like they do not know they are supposed to be nervous. The Bucks and 76ers have questions to answer on defense and health. Out West, the Clippers, Suns and Mavericks are all in various stages of figuring out how their stars can coexist when the pace slows and the scouting tightens.
For fans, the must-watch slate over the coming days is loaded. Any matchup between the Celtics and another East contender carries playoff vibes. A Nuggets game against another top West seed is a measuring stick for both sides. Lakers and Warriors games are appointment viewing purely because every win or loss meaningfully nudges their position in the NBA standings, raising the stakes of every LeBron or Curry fourth-quarter possession.
Expect more statement games from MVP candidates as we move deeper into February. Jokic will keep stacking near triple-doubles. Tatum will look for more "closer" moments in tight games. SGA, Giannis and others will keep crashing the conversation with dominant stat lines and highlight sequences. The margin between narrative momentum and slippage is as thin as it has been in years.
For now, the league’s hierarchy is clear but fragile. A couple of road wins by an upstart, a minor injury to a star, or a cold shooting week from downtown can swing entire series projections. If you are trying to handicap the title race, keep refreshing those live scores, dive into the player stats, and watch how the middle of each conference shifts night by night.
The only safe prediction: the NBA standings we see today will not look the same a week from now. With LeBron’s Lakers, Curry’s Warriors and a pack of hungry young teams chasing Boston and Denver, the stretch run is about to feel a lot like April in disguise. Stay locked in; the next thriller is always a tipoff away.
