NBA Standings shake-up: LeBron’s Lakers climb, Tatum’s Celtics hold firm as Curry keeps Warriors alive
09.02.2026 - 14:15:55
The NBA Standings tightened overnight as LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers picked up a crucial win, Jayson Tatum’s Boston Celtics kept their grip near the top of the East, and Stephen Curry once again dragged the Golden State Warriors’ offense over the finish line. With the playoff picture getting sharper by the day, every possession is starting to feel like late-April basketball.
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LeBron sets the tone as Lakers tighten the West race
LeBron James did exactly what a 20-year vet and four-time MVP is supposed to do in a seeding race this tight: control the tempo, punish mismatches, and close the door late. His all-around line — piling up points, rebounds, and assists while steering the Lakers’ halfcourt offense — was the kind of steady dominance that doesn’t always pop on a single highlight but completely reshapes a game.
The Lakers’ win matters beyond the box score. In the brutal Western Conference hierarchy, every result now shifts potential first-round matchups. They defended the three-point line better than they have in recent weeks, cleaned the defensive glass, and got just enough shooting from the corners to keep the floor spaced for LeBron drives and Anthony Davis post touches.
After the game, Darvin Ham summed it up in classic coach-speak but with a clear edge of urgency: they treated this like a mini playoff game, tightened rotations, and leaned hard on their stars. You could feel it in crunchtime — no experimental lineups, no long leash for mistakes, just playoff-style execution.
Davis, for his part, was a defensive wall. Even when he wasn’t racking up gaudy block totals, he altered shots at the rim and discouraged drives altogether. Opponents kept settling from downtown, and that’s exactly the script the Lakers want in a high-stakes, low-possession game.
Celtics stay in control: Tatum’s quiet dominance
On the other side of the country and the other side of the NBA Standings, the Boston Celtics continue to operate like a machine. Jayson Tatum didn’t need a 50-piece to control the night. Instead, he delivered a polished star performance: efficient scoring from all three levels, smart playmaking out of doubles, and the kind of calm that keeps Boston’s offense from spiraling when defenses load up.
The Celtics’ formula is familiar by now: switch-heavy defense, quick-hit transition, five-out spacing, and trust in Tatum and Jaylen Brown to win individual matchups. What stood out this time was the bench: multiple role players hit timely threes and brought enough juice on defense that Joe Mazzulla could afford to keep minutes balanced. That’s huge with the playoffs coming and workload management always lurking in the background.
Postgame, Tatum downplayed the numbers and talked about habits — defending without fouling, pushing pace, cutting hard even when he doesn’t get the ball. That’s exactly how a contender stays at or near the top of the East instead of sleepwalking through the schedule.
Curry keeps the Warriors’ pulse alive
Stephen Curry once again played paramedic for the Golden State offense, delivering the kind of shotmaking display that feels normal only because he has been doing it for a decade. Deep pull-ups in transition, step-backs from way beyond the arc, back-breaking threes late in the fourth — the full Curry package was on display.
The Warriors still live and die by Curry’s gravity. Defenses blitzed him high above the three-point line, but when he gave the ball up, Golden State finally got enough secondary playmaking and finishing to punish those traps. The result: a much-needed win that keeps them firmly in the Play-In conversation, if not comfortably in the top six.
Steve Kerr noted afterward that the margin for error is gone. In a West where a three-game skid can drop you from sixth to eleventh, Curry’s nightly brilliance has to be matched by discipline on defense and cleaner late-game execution. Last night, they finally checked those boxes.
How the top of the NBA Standings look now
So where does all that leave the league landscape? The latest NBA Standings, checked against NBA.com and ESPN, underline just how small the gap is between home-court advantage and Play-In purgatory.
Here is a compact look at how the top of each conference is shaping up, with seeding and pressure building by the day:
| East Rank | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston Celtics | Elite winning pace |
| 2 | Milwaukee Bucks | Within striking distance |
| 3 | Philadelphia 76ers | Climbing when healthy |
| 4 | New York Knicks | Firmly in home-court mix |
| 5 | Cleveland Cavaliers | On the rise, one hot streak away |
Those five have looked like the most stable group in the East. Boston’s cushion at the top is real, Milwaukee’s ceiling is tied to their defense catching up, and Philadelphia’s fortunes still swing with the health of their centerpiece big man. New York and Cleveland are scrapping for every inch of home-court advantage, with physical defense and heavy-minute stars leading the way.
| West Rank | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oklahoma City Thunder / Denver Nuggets tier | Top of the pack |
| 3 | Minnesota Timberwolves | Elite defense, fighting for seeding |
| 4 | Los Angeles Clippers | Veteran core, eyeing home court |
| 5 | Dallas Mavericks / Phoenix Suns mix | Offensive firepower, defensive questions |
| 6-10 | Lakers, Warriors and company | Playoff vs Play-In swing zone |
The West looks like organized chaos. Denver’s championship pedigree and Oklahoma City’s fearless youth both look like one-seed material. Minnesota is hanging around because of its suffocating defense, while the Clippers, Suns, and Mavericks hover in that dangerous zone where one bad week can erase home-court dreams.
The Lakers’ latest win tightens their grip in the middle band, but they’re far from safe. The Warriors’ surge, behind Curry’s shotmaking, keeps them in that 7-10 Play-In corridor. One thing is clear: in the West, seeding won’t be settled until the final days of the regular season.
Last night’s standout Player Stats and box score storylines
The box scores from the last 24 hours delivered exactly what fans crave in this stretch of the season: star power, gaudy Player Stats, and role players stepping into the spotlight.
LeBron’s line was classic LeBron: strong scoring, double-digit boards in play, and high-level playmaking. What mattered more than the raw numbers was how he controlled the pace. Every time the opponent threatened a run, he hunted the right matchup, called for the screen he wanted, and either got downhill or created a wide-open three.
Tatum’s scoring volume wasn’t eye-popping by his standards, but the efficiency was. He picked his spots — post-ups against smaller wings, quick rip-throughs to get to the line, and rhythm pull-up threes when defenders ducked under screens. Advanced metrics will love this one: high usage without recklessness, plus strong on-ball defense when it mattered late.
Curry, as usual, filled up the scoring column. What popped most was his late-game shot chart: multiple threes from several feet behind the line, plus timely drives when defenders overplayed his jumper. His gravity turned average looks into practice shots for teammates. That’s MVP-level impact even on nights when someone else might post a flashier box score.
Sprinkled around those headliners, we saw critical Double-Double efforts from big men fighting for rotation minutes, bench scorers swinging second quarters, and defensive specialists picking up full court to change the energy. These are the little things that never trend on social media but quietly decide seeding tiebreakers.
MVP race: Jokic, Giannis, Luka, Tatum, and the outside shots
The MVP Race remains a heavyweight bout. Nikola Jokic continues to stack absurd stat lines with elite efficiency, piloting Denver’s offense like a point center. Giannis Antetokounmpo is still a nightly 30-and-10 threat, bulldozing his way to the rim while anchoring Milwaukee’s transition game. Luka Doncic fills every column of the box score with points, rebounds, and assists, often flirting with a Triple-Double by halftime.
Tatum’s case leans more on winning than on raw numbers: if Boston finishes clearly on top of the Eastern Conference and he maintains top-tier scoring and two-way impact, voters will have to reckon with his candidacy. Curry, meanwhile, remains on the outside looking in, but if Golden State climbs the NBA Standings enough and his usage and efficiency hold, his narrative case will get louder.
This year’s MVP field is less about one historic outlier and more about sustained dominance on elite teams. It might come down to who finishes strongest in the final three weeks, with every national-TV performance amplified.
Injuries, adjustments, and the playoff picture
No serious playoff discussion is complete without talking about health. Several contenders are carefully managing nagging injuries, resting stars on back-to-backs, and experimenting with lineups to survive the grind without sacrificing seeding.
Coaches around the league are threading the same needle: push hard enough to secure favorable matchups, but not so hard that star players hit the postseason on fumes. That’s why you see some unpredictable rotation choices and the occasional flat performance on the second night of a road back-to-back. In the bigger picture, it’s all about being fresh for late April and May.
The Playoff Picture right now has a clear top tier in each conference, a tough middle pack, and a chaotic Play-In chase. In the East, Boston, Milwaukee, and a healthy Philadelphia group still look like the primary contenders. In the West, Denver’s chemistry, Oklahoma City’s fearlessness, and Minnesota’s defense headline the true threats, with the Clippers and Suns lurking if they can stay healthy.
What’s next: must-watch clashes and crunchtime stakes
The next few days on the NBA calendar are loaded with must-watch matchups that could swing tiebreakers and seeding. The Lakers and Warriors both face opponents that sit near them in the standings, meaning every head-to-head is worth double: a win for you, a loss for a direct rival.
Boston’s upcoming stretch includes tests against physical Eastern Conference foes that will challenge their depth and composure. Tatum, Brown, and the supporting cast will need to keep their defensive focus sharp to avoid any late-season dip that opens the door for Milwaukee or Philadelphia to steal the top seed.
For Golden State, any national-TV night featuring Curry is appointment viewing. With the margin between eighth and eleventh razor thin, one off shooting night or one defensive meltdown could force them into a harder Play-In path, or even knock them out of it entirely.
The NBA Standings tell the story in broad strokes, but the drama is in the details: late switches, missed boxouts, clutch free throws, or a single Buzzer Beater. As the schedule tightens and rotations shorten, every possession feels heavier, every run more dangerous, and every star performance more defining.
If you are a fan of LeBron, Tatum, Curry, or just chaos in general, clear your evenings. The final weeks are going to feel like a rolling playoff, and the only safe bet is that the standings board on NBA.com will look different almost every morning.
