The Charlotte Hornets beat the Brooklyn Nets 119-110 at the Barclays Center on Sunday to secure their seventh win in the past eight games.

As the two teams compete for the eighth rank in the Eastern Conference, the victory put the Hornets on top over the Nets with the same record of 39-36.

If the regular season ends now, the Hornets will play against the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the winner can reach the playoffs first. The Nets will have to beat the Atlanta Hawks first and then defeat the lost side between the Hornets and the Cavaliers for playoff qualification.

Sunday's loss was the first game Kyrie Irving played at the Barclays Center this season since New York City changed the local COVID-19 mandate. However, Irving failed to grasp the chance to impress home fans as he missed 16 of 22 field goal (FG) attempts, including shooting 1 -for- 9 from downtown, to get only 16 points and 11 assists.

"Not the result we wanted, I didn't shoot as well as I wanted," Irving said. "Basically, none of the things I had hoped for going well tonight just didn't happen, and that's just the flow of basketball."

Generally, the whole franchise of the Nets were not in their best shooting form on Sunday night, especially compared with the visiting Hornets. LaMelo Ball, Miles Bridges, P.J. Washington, Terry Rozier and Cody Martin combined 16 3-pointers shooting 57.1 percent. Ball scored 18 points in the third quarter alone to lead his team to a 37-29 run to enter the last quarter as the leading side.

"We know we're a good third-quarter team and we came out and set the tone," Hornets head coach James Borrego said.

The Nets were catching up close in the last three minutes but the two straight triples Martin made later killed the game for the Hornets. "Those last 3s in the end were really clutch I feel like," Ball said. "So it was a great game."

Suns continue to show dominance

The Phoenix Suns beat the Philadelphia 76ers 114-104 at Footprint Center on Sunday to pocket their eighth consecutive win.

As the only 60+win team in the league, the Suns didn't slow down at all in their last games of the regular season. Devin Booker again heated up like a microwave by scoring 22 of the 35 points in the first quarter. He was why the Suns only trailed by two points (39-37) facing an unstoppable Joel Embiid who got 15 points in the first quarter.

In his second game since returning from a thumb injury, Chris Paul again contributed a double-double of 19 points and 14 assists. When most players on the floor were exhausted for defensive work in the fourth quarter, Paul stood out and took over the game by making three jumpers in the middle range and giving the ball to the right teammates four times.

"The motivation comes from last year," Jae Crowder said. "Making it all the way to the Finals and not achieving the main goal – that's the ultimate motivation. That's all you need. You want to get back there, you want a different story."

"That's a talented team that we could possibly see at the end," Booker said. "We just want to make statements. Play the right brand of basketball and wear teams down."

Despite the loss, Embiid did his best for the 76ers. He shot 12 -for- 17 from the floor in the paint, earned 12 free throws and grabbed seven offensive rebounds. In fact, he's why the 76ers were still hanging there until the last two minutes of the game.

"That is the best team in the league for a reason," Embiid said. "They've got a bunch of great players who play well together. They are connected offensively and defensively, they don't get rattled."

By contrast, James Harden again let his team down. He got 14 points, seven rebounds and nine assists after missing nine of 11 FG attempts. He hinted at the post-game press conference that some of the fouls on him weren't called. But if Harden can rely on thing but trying to go to the free throw line as his offensive solution, the 76ers will have some serious concerns in the post season.

Other games on Sunday (away teams come first):

New York Knicks 104-102 Detroit Pistons

Minnesota Timberwolves 112-134 Boston Celtics

Golden State Warriors 115-123 Washington Wizards

Los Angeles Lakers 108-116 New Orleans Pelicans

Utah Jazz 100-114 Dallas Mavericks