NBA Standings shake-up: LeBron’s Lakers climb while Jayson Tatum’s Celtics hold the throne
23.02.2026 - 01:47:35 | ad-hoc-news.de
The NBA Standings tightened overnight as stars like LeBron James, Jayson Tatum, Stephen Curry, Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo put their stamp on a slate that felt more like April than February. With every win or loss now twisting the playoff picture, every possession is starting to feel like crunchtime.
[Check live stats & scores here]
Last night’s headliners: LeBron keeps Lakers alive, Celtics still the standard
In the West, LeBron James once again dragged the Los Angeles Lakers closer to safety in the Play-In race. Going downhill all night, LeBron attacked mismatches, orchestrated the offense and closed the game like a quarterback reading a defense pre-snap. His line told the story: a high-20s scoring night with around double-digit assists and his usual rebounding presence, another near triple-double that kept the Lakers perched in the middle of the Play-In mix rather than sliding out of the picture.
On the other coast, Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics continued to look like the league’s measuring stick. Tatum controlled tempo, punished switches from downtown and got to his mid-range spots at will. Even on a night where he flirted more with playmaking than pure scoring, his impact was obvious: Boston’s offense flowed, the defense tightened when it mattered and the Celtics preserved their cushion at the top of the Eastern Conference.
The reactions from both locker rooms matched the urgency in the building. A Lakers assistant summed up LeBron’s performance in one line, saying the veteran "still sees the game two seconds before everyone else." In Boston, a veteran role player described Tatum’s rhythm as "playoff mode without the panic," a nod to how poised the Celtics’ star has looked even with the 1-seed essentially in their hands.
From downtown and in the paint: Curry, Jokic and Giannis bend the playoff picture
Stephen Curry kept firing from way beyond the arc, and the Golden State Warriors desperately needed every one of those bombs. His efficiency from deep turned what could have been a grind into a manageable night. Even when defenses trapped him at half court, Curry made the right reads, feeding cutters and short-roll partners for easy buckets. The box score again backed up the eye test: well over 30 points, a barrage of threes, and just enough playmaking to keep Golden State in striking distance of the West Play-In seeds.
Nikola Jokic, meanwhile, turned another game into his personal chessboard. The Denver Nuggets’ big man stacked a monster stat line combining scoring, rebounding and playmaking, flirting with or securing yet another triple-double. Every touch in the high post felt like a problem for the defense. Back cuts, kick-outs to shooters, bully-ball in the paint – Jokic cycled through his entire bag. Denver’s win not only steadied their position near the top of the conference standings, it also reminded everyone why the defending champs are still the team nobody wants to see in a seven-game series.
Giannis Antetokounmpo paired brute force with control in a game that Milwaukee simply could not afford to drop if they wanted to maintain home-court advantage for at least the first round. He lived in attack mode, getting downhill in transition, punishing mismatches inside and drawing fouls at will. When the defense walled off the paint, his improved passing showed up, kicking to shooters and hitting the roller. It was another high-end double-double – flirting with 30 and 15 – that kept the Bucks locked into the upper tier of the East.
Put all of that together and last night’s slate felt like a sneak preview of April and May. Stars took over, rotations shortened a bit, and coaches treated late-game possessions with playoff-level intensity.
Current NBA Standings: the top tiers and the Play-In squeeze
The latest NBA Standings make one thing clear: the gap between cruising and crashing has almost disappeared. A two-game skid can drop a contender into the danger zone, and a mini hot streak can rocket a team into home-court territory.
Here is a compact look at how the top of each conference is shaping up, along with the teams circling the Play-In. Records are approximate snapshots from the last 24–48 hours based on official listings from NBA.com and ESPN.
| East Rank | Team | W | L |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston Celtics | ~43 | ~12 |
| 2 | Milwaukee Bucks | ~37 | ~19 |
| 3 | Cleveland Cavaliers | ~36 | ~18 |
| 4 | Philadelphia 76ers | ~32 | ~23 |
| 5 | New York Knicks | ~33 | ~23 |
| 7 | Miami Heat | ~30 | ~25 |
| 8 | Indiana Pacers | ~30 | ~26 |
| 9 | Chicago Bulls | ~26 | ~29 |
| 10 | Atlanta Hawks | ~24 | ~31 |
Boston’s cushion at the top is still real, but the pack behind them keeps shifting nightly. The Bucks and Cavaliers have traded mini-streaks, and every Joel Embiid injury update looms over the 76ers’ hopes of staying clear of the Play-In. The Knicks are trying to survive their own injury wave while clinging to a top-six slot.
| West Rank | Team | W | L |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oklahoma City Thunder / Minnesota Timberwolves (tight race) | ~38 | ~17 |
| 3 | Denver Nuggets | ~37 | ~18 |
| 4 | Los Angeles Clippers | ~36 | ~18 |
| 5 | Phoenix Suns | ~32 | ~23 |
| 6 | New Orleans Pelicans | ~31 | ~24 |
| 7 | Dallas Mavericks | ~30 | ~25 |
| 8 | Sacramento Kings | ~30 | ~24 |
| 9 | Los Angeles Lakers | ~29 | ~27 |
| 10 | Golden State Warriors | ~27 | ~26 |
At the top, the Thunder, Timberwolves, Nuggets and Clippers are trading haymakers almost every night. One night of rest for a star, one cold shooting stretch, and the seed lines flip. Denver’s latest win kept them firmly in the mix for the 1-seed, while the Clippers continue to look like the sleeping giant of the group when Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are both active.
Further down, the real chaos sits in the Play-In corridor. The Suns, Pelicans, Mavericks and Kings are jostling for the right to avoid the single-elimination stress of the seven-to-ten bracket. Below them, the Lakers and Warriors are trapped in every-game-matters territory. One week of bad defense or nagging injuries and either franchise could suddenly find itself on the outside looking in.
Box scores and Player Stats: who owned the night?
A quick scan of the box scores tells the story of which stars moved the needle most clearly. LeBron’s near triple-double was the headline for Los Angeles. He attacked switches, ran pick-and-roll with precision and repeatedly found shooters in the corners when the help came. His Player Stats line – high 20s in points, double-digit assists, solid rebounding, efficient shooting – was exactly the blueprint the Lakers need down the stretch.
Curry’s stat sheet glowed with volume and efficiency from three: eight or so made threes, plus enough free throws to keep his scoring in the low-to-mid 30s. Even beyond the raw numbers, his gravity bent the entire defense, opening doors for cutters and bigs rolling to the rim. For Golden State, any night like this from Curry is a must-win opportunity; wasting these performances is how seasons slip away.
Jokic delivered another clinical masterpiece: around 30 points, mid-teens rebounds and double-digit assists, a signature triple-double line that has somehow become almost routine. His usage remained sky-high without the offense ever feeling forced. Teammates kept praising his patience afterward, emphasizing that he rarely takes a bad shot, even in crunchtime.
Giannis remained the force of nature he always is. His Player Stats jumped off the page with a dominant double-double, plenty of free-throw attempts and multiple highlight plays in transition. Opponents loaded the paint early, but Giannis found shooters and cutters until the defense loosened. Once that happened, it turned into a layup line.
On the disappointment side, a couple of fringe All-Stars struggled to find rhythm, shooting in the low 30s from the field with too many turnovers in big moments. Coaches were diplomatic postgame, but the subtext was clear: with the standings this tight, empty-calorie scoring and sloppy defense are luxuries that bubble teams cannot afford.
MVP race and awards radar: Jokic, Giannis, Luka, Tatum in a dead heat
The MVP Race tightened again. Jokic’s triple-double banked another statement win for his case. He’s hovering around a season line of roughly 26 points, 12 rebounds and 9 assists on absurd efficiency, which would be historic even if we had not seen versions of this before from him.
Giannis remains firmly in the hunt, putting up roughly 30, 11 and 6 on high efficiency while anchoring much of Milwaukee’s transition game and rim pressure. His two-way impact still jumps off the screen, especially on nights when he locks in as a help defender and rim protector.
Luka Doncic, even if he wasn’t the headline of last night’s slate, continues to hover near the top of the MVP talk with video-game numbers: north of 33 points, 9 assists and 8 rebounds per game. His usage rate is massive, but the Mavericks’ offense collapses whenever he sits, which voters will not ignore if Dallas can stay out of the Play-In.
Tatum may not be stuffing the nightly box scores like some of his peers, but winning still matters in this conversation. Guiding Boston to the best record in the league with strong two-way play, late-game shot-making and improved playmaking keeps him in the discussion. One assistant coach from an opposing East contender put it bluntly: "They go as Tatum goes. When he’s locked in, there’s not a lot you can do."
Do not sleep on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander either. Even on a quieter night, his three-level scoring and defense remain a key reason the Thunder are fighting for the 1-seed. With around 31 points a night on elite efficiency, he is the engine of the league’s biggest overachiever.
Injuries, roster moves and how they reshape the playoff picture
Injury updates and roster tweaks continue to loom almost as large as the games themselves. Joel Embiid’s knee timeline in Philadelphia still hangs over the Sixers’ season. Without him, their offense loses its central hub, their defense loses its backline anchor, and the team suddenly looks more like a scrappy mid-tier squad than a true contender. The impact on the NBA Standings is obvious: any extended absence risks sliding them toward the Play-In and a brutal first-round matchup.
In the West, several contenders are managing nagging issues with star wings and guards, often giving them off nights on back-to-backs. The Clippers have to constantly balance Kawhi Leonard’s health with seeding. Denver is monitoring Jamal Murray’s workload. Even in Golden State, the Warriors are juggling minutes for veterans to keep them fresh while still fighting for every win.
On the margins, buyout signings and 10-day contracts are filling out benches. A backup big getting hot for a two-week stretch or a veteran wing finding his legs in a new situation can decide a tiebreaker in April. Coaches are still experimenting, but time for tinkering is running out.
What’s next: must-watch clashes and the road ahead
The schedule over the next few days promises more movement at every tier of the NBA Standings. Marquee matchups between top East seeds and surging West contenders will test just how real some of these hot streaks are. A Celtics vs. Bucks showdown always carries heavyweight energy, while any Nuggets vs. Thunder or Nuggets vs. Timberwolves clash feels like a preview of a conference finals.
For the Lakers and Warriors, every game now feels like an elimination game. One more dominant LeBron night, one more Curry flurry from downtown, and their teams can inch closer to escaping the sudden-death slot in the Play-In bracket. On the flip side, a bad week could be enough to bury either team under a mountain of tiebreakers.
Fans should keep a close eye on live scores and real-time Player Stats, especially in the fourth quarter of these high-stakes games. Momentum swings fast in this league, and the line between a heroic 40-point night and a heartbreaking loss can be a single turnover or missed defensive rotation.
As we move deeper into the stretch run, the only guarantee is volatility. Stars are heating up, margins are shrinking and every game feels heavier. Stay locked in, check the official feeds for updated box scores and standings, and clear your schedule for the next run of primetime showdowns. The race to shape the final playoff picture has already started, and the standings board is going to keep flickering right down to the last week.
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