MELBOURNE, Australia - Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position for Formula Ones season-opening Australian Grand Prix in a rainy qualifying session Saturday, while four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel will start the race from 12th after being caught out by the wet conditions. Vettel was joined by fellow big-name drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button in dropping out of qualifying in the second session as they struggled on the wet surface at the Albert Park street circuit. While Vettel struck trouble, his new Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo thrived, qualifying second, three tenths of a second behind Hamiltons pole time. Ricciardo narrowly missed becoming the first Australian to take pole in his home race. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg qualified third, ahead of McLarens impressive debutant Kevin Magnussen, who put in a heady drive in tricky conditions, and Ferraris Fernando Alonso. Hamiltons pole position took him level on 32 career poles with British compatriot Nigel Mansell. "Today was so much harder for everyone in these conditions," Hamilton said. "These cars are a lot harder to drive in the wet and the first time for me driving this car in the rain. To be up here is a great showing for the team." Vettel had complained during the pre-qualifying practice session about the handling of the car, describing it as "horrible." The cars handling seemed to deteriorate even further during qualifying, with Vettel ending up 2.4 seconds off Ricciardos pace in the Q2 session. "I struggled with drivability," Vettel said. "We have lost that overnight, so we need to find out why that was." Raikkonen had lagged behind his Ferrari teammate Alonso through the race weekend as they embark on what should be a keen rivalry, and his qualifying ended when he crashed into a track wall after hitting a wet patch when accelerating away from a bend. McLarens Button was caught out by the yellow flags from the Raikkonen incident and qualified 11th. Button, Vettel and Raikkonen will all be promoted one spot on the grid because Williams Valtteri Bottas was given a five-place penalty for changing a gearbox. Ricciardo notched his career best in qualifying, bettering his fifth place at last years British Grand Prix. "Im really excited but at the same time still staying calm and collected because tomorrow is what counts, so theres no point in having a party tonight," he said. Rosbergs third position was less than he had hoped after topping the timesheets in pre-qualifying practice and in the Q1 session, but Mercedes had clearly been the fastest car over the weekend and he is still well positioned to fight for victory. "It could have been better but third was OK and we have a good racing car, so from third anything can happen," Rosberg said. Toro Rossos Jean-Eric Vergne qualified sixth in another career-best performance — beating his seventh position at Canada last year. Force Indias Nico Hulkenberg was seventh, followed by Toro Rossos 19-year-old debutant Daniil Kyvat in an impressive eighth and Williams Felipe Massa in ninth. Bottas qualified 10th but drops down because of the penalty. Sundays race is forecast to be dry, with only a small chance of rain. It will be a journey into the unknown for all teams as they get a first chance to see how their new V6 turbo hybrid engines and reconfigured aerodynamics perform over a two-hour race. Australia is among the highest fuel consumption races on the F1 calendar, and with fuel limits sliced to 100 kilograms this year compared to around 160 last year, Sundays race looms as a test of engine and fuel management more than an outright race. Cheap Air Max 97 Green China . -- Canadian Erik Bedard pitched into the fifth inning in his bid to win a spot in Tampa Bays rotation, helping the Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-3 on Saturday. Cheap Air Max 97 . Philbin said Thursday he wants players to treat one another with civility and he wont tolerate anything less. In taking questions for the first time since Ted Wells released his report into the bullying scandal that rocked the league, Philbin made it clear things would be cleaned up. http://www.cheapairmax97fromchina.com/ch...-all-red-china/. According to various reports, the striker is about to sign a five-and-a-half year extension with Manchester United worth a reported 300,000 pounds a week that would see him at Old Trafford until 2019. Cheap Air Max 97 Grey China . The Brazilian driver had the second-best time in last months tests at Jerez and said the "good start" could play to his advantage when the season gets underway in Australia in March. Cheap Air Max 97 Red China .com) - James Harden needed just seven made field goals to drop 35 points on the Philadelphia 76ers, leading the Houston Rockets to a 104-93 win on Monday.INDIANAPOLIS -- Paul George went into desperation mode to salvage the Pacers season. It was barely good enough. The 24-year-old All-Star scored 21 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter and inspired Indiana to fend off Miamis late challenges as the Pacers staved off playoff elimination with a 93-90 Game 5 victory on Wednesday night. "My message to the whole team was the light needs to be on green for all of us," coach Frank Vogel said. "You need to go, you need to attack, you need to be aggressive. Paul took it and ran with it and took it to a crazy level." The most crucial shooting performance of Georges career allowed the Pacers to climb within 3-2 in the Eastern Conference finals and postponed Miamis fourth straight coronation as conference champs. Game 6 is Friday in Miami. It took everything in Georges repertoire to get it done. He was 12 of 19 from the field in the second half, finished with six rebounds, six steals, five 3-pointers and only three turnovers in 45 minutes. But the Pacers also needed everything else to go right. Four-time MVP LeBron James was limited to 24 1/2 minutes because of major foul trouble. He finished with a career playoff-low seven points, two rebounds and four assists. The Heat committed 17 turnovers, compared to just 13 for the usually turnover-prone Pacers, and Indiana had a 45-38 rebounding edge, too. The biggest difference was George, whose 21 fourth-quarter points were the most scored against Miami in any playoff quarter. The previous record, 20, was set by Michael Jordan in May 1997. "I just felt it. I felt in rhythm. I had to be aggressive," George said. "I tried to come out and be aggressive to start this game off and I was getting looks. I got hot." George fell just short of his playoff career high, the 39 he had in Game 4 against Washington in the previous series, and was just four points short of Reggie Millers franchise record in an NBA playoff game. For Miami, it was a rare stumble in an elimination game in the Big Three era. Three other times, the Heat had lost Game 1 on the road and all three times they won the next four games to close out the series. The Heat were in position to do it again Wednesday even with James limitations. Chris Bosh scored 20 points, Dwyane Wade and Rashard Lewis each had 18, and the Heat made 15 of 31 3-pointers to stay within clinching distance. After holding the Pacers to 11 points in the second quarteer, only 33 in the first half and surviving two long first-half stretches without James, the Heat couldnt hold off the Pacers when James went to the bench again with his fifth foul early in the third quarter.dddddddddddd Yet, the Heat still had a chance to take the lead with 4.9 seconds left. But Boshs 3-pointer was off the mark and the Pacers grabbed the rebound. "We still had enough opportunities to come away with a win," coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We just couldnt get over the hump." Hard falls and tough plays were a theme all night for a Pacers team that had been roundly criticized for its lack of effort in Monday nights loss. Lance Stephenson took it a step farther. At one point, he attempted to listen in on one of Miamis huddle. At another, he blew in James ear. "Im just here to play basketball, man. All the extracurricular activities, I dont really get into," James said. "Im just trying to win. We need one more win to get to the finals. Thats my only concern. All the extra stuff, whatever Lance wants to do, I dont really care about that." It looked like the Heat might clinch their fourth straight conference title Wednesday, something last done by the Celtics from 1984-87, when the Pacers trailed 50-41 with 6:56 left in the third quarter. Then George took over. He started an 11-0 run with a layup and ended it with a steal that he turned into a dunk to give the Pacers a 52-50 lead. Miami quickly tied it on Udonis Haslems layup, but George answered with a 3-pointer that sent the Pacers on a 12-5 run to make it 64-57 after three. Indiana extended the lead to as much as 77-66 early in the fourth on another George dunk, but when James re-entered, things changed. The Heat scored nine straight to make it 77-75, tied it at 81 on James only 3 of the night with 3:51 to play and twice managed to get within one in the final 76 seconds. George then hit a 3 and West made 1 of 2 free throws in the closing seconds to seal it. Notes: James scored in single digits for the first time since finishing with eight against Dallas on June 7, 2011. Hes only scored in single digits 10 times in his career. ... Roy Hibbert, who had only five rebounds in Game 4, had five in the first seven minutes Wednesday and finished with 13. ... Miami shot 45.3 per cent from the field, the first time its been under 50 per cent in the series. ... The Pacers were 13 of 22 from the free-throw line while Miami was 7 of 8. ' ' '