INDIANAPOLIS, United States (AFP) — Paul George scored 21 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter as the Indiana Pacers staved off elimination by beating the two-time defending champion Miami Heat 93-90 on Wednesday.

George also had 31 points in the second half and shot 15-of-28 overall from the floor for the Pacers who still trail the Heat three games to two in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference championship series.

The playoff series shifts back to southern Florida for game six on Friday.

The Heat are trying to become the fourth team in National Basketball Association history to advance to the finals four straight seasons in a row.

Miami’s LeBron James finished with a career playoff-low of seven points on just two-of-10 shooting as he battled foul trouble throughout.

NBA to expands games to Mexico, London

NEW YORK, United States (AP) — The NBA will play regular-season games in Mexico City and London as part of its extended global schedule for next season.

The Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves will play at the Mexico City Arena on November 12 2014, while the Milwaukee Bucks will face the New York Knicks at The O2 on January 15 2015.

The two regular-season games will follow the NBA global pre-season games in October that will feature five teams — Brooklyn, Cleveland, Miami, Sacramento and San Antonio — playing a series of games in Brazil, China, Germany and Turkey.

Nadal, Murray cruise into French Open third round

PARIS, France (AFP) — Rafael Nadal handed out a brutal French Open lesson to highly-rated Dominic Thiem yesterday as Roland Garros took a breather from the shocks which have rocked the tournament.

Defending champion Nadal cruised to a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 victory over his 20-year-old Austrian opponent to reach the third round.

Fifth-seeded compatriot David Ferrer, the runner-up in 2013, and Andy Murray, the seventh seeded Wimbledon champion, also cruised through.

Ferrer cruised past Italy’s Simone Bolelli 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. Murray, a semi-finalist in 2011, brushed aside Marko Matosevic, the last Australian man in the tournament, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.

Following the exit of world number three Stan Wawrinka and the defeats of women’s top seeds Serena Williams and Li Na, yesterday at the French Open was a sedate affair.

Froome blasts anti-doping authorities

PARIS, France (AFP) — Tour de France champion Chris Froome has blasted anti-doping authorities for failing to test riders at altitude training in Tenerife.

Froome, 28, is one of several Tour contenders who use Tenerife’s Mount Teide to help prepare for the gruelling climbs in July’s race.

But the Team Sky rider said he was stunned not to have been tested there during a two-week training camp that ended Wednesday.

“Three major TDF contenders staying on Mt Teide and no out-of-competition tests for the past two weeks. Very disappointing,” said Froome on Twitter.

Arredondo takes 18th stage of Giro d’Italia

MILAN, Italy (AFP) — King of the mountains leader Julian Arredondo won the 18th stage of the Giro d’Italia yesterday as fellow Colombian Nairo Quintana held onto the overall race lead.

Trek’s Arredondo broke clear of an escape group in the final 4km and held off another compatriot, Fabio Duarte, to claim his maiden victory in the race.

Irishman Philip Deignan of Team Sky took third on the stage, 37sec back at the end of the 171km stage from Belluno to the Panarotta Refuge.

Australian 2011 Tour de France winner Cadel Evans was the big loser as he was dropped by the group of favourites and lost his podium place.

Former club officials charged for embezzlement in Croatia

ZAGREB, Croatia (AFP) — Six former senior officials from one of Croatia’s biggest football teams, Hajduk Split, went on trial on yesterday, charged with embezzling millions of euros.

The six, who held top posts in the club in the late 1990s, pleaded not guilty before the court in the central Adriatic town of Split, local media reported.

They were charged with embezzling some 238,000 euros (US $325,000) through various illegal activities, including taking money from the rights for televised matches, and forging official documents.

Four of the suspects were also indicted for failing to declare income from the sale of players from 1997 to 2000, thus denying the taxman some 13 million euros ($18 million).

Among the suspects is Croatia’s former star player Ivica Surjak.

Hajduk Split, founded 113 years ago, is among Croatia’s leading football clubs.

The club has reached the Champions League quarter-finals on three occasions.

Croatian football has, in recent years, been rocked by financial problems, match-fixing and bribing scandals.

Inzaghi ready to replace Seedorf at Milan

MILAN, Italy (AP) — Filippo Inzaghi says he has not been contacted about becoming AC Milan coach but is ready to take over the managerial reins.

Current Milan coach Clarence Seedorf is only four months into a 2 1/2 year contract, but Italian media reports claim that club owner Silvio Berlusconi has already decided to replace him with the Dutchman’s former teammate, Inzaghi.

Yesterday, Inzaghi said: “I have to underline that until June 30, 2016 I am the youth team coach. I haven’t had any other communication from the club.”

The 40-year-old added: “If they should call me for a different role than my current one, I would be happy.”

Seedorf replaced the sacked Massimiliano Allegri in January and led Milan to an eighth-place finish in Serie A, with 11 wins in his 19 league matches in charge.

United fans still bitter over Glazer takeover

LONDON, England (AP) — Few Manchester United fans will ever forgive Malcolm Glazer for his acrimonious buyout of the club that left the 20-time English champions with millions of dollars of debt.

As a result, there was no outpouring of grief or flood of tributes from fans in the northern English city of Manchester following Wednesday’s death of the club’s 85-year-old former American owner.

Perhaps aware of the supporters’ enduring animosity, there was a low-key response from United — just a 75-word website statement that was in noticeable contrast to the gratitude flowing from the Glazers’ NFL franchise, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

United’s Twitter account made no mention of the passing of the man who bought the club for 790 million pounds (then $1.47 billion) in 2005.

The Manchester United Supporters’ Trust, which has spearheaded the movement against the Glazer family, avoided any criticism of the billionaire in the hours after his death, choosing to reassert its condemnation of the family as a whole.

Under-strength England to face All Blacks in rugby series

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AFP) — An under-strength England rugby squad arrived in New Zealand yesterday, with coach Stuart Lancaster rejecting suggestions his weakened side faces a “tour from Hell” against the world champion All Blacks.

Lancaster had to leave up to a dozen top players behind for the Premiership final between Saracens and Northampton, meaning they will be unavailable for the opening match of the three-Test series.

“It’s not ideal when you come to play the world champions in their own back yard and you don’t have your best side available,” he told reporters in Auckland.

“But it’s a situation I inherited. The scheduling is done way in advance… so we’re not going to sit and moan about it.”

Former England coach Clive Woodward lambasted the schedule in a British newspaper this week, saying it could lead to a repeat of the 1998 “Tour from Hell” when a hapless England were defeated 64-22 and 40-10 by the New Zealanders.

Groves vows to knock-out Froch

LONDON, England (AFP) — Super-confident challenger George Groves has vowed to knock-out champion Carl Froch with a left hook on Saturday night at Wembley.

Froch, known as the Cobra, defends his IBF and regular WBA super-middleweight titles against Groves in one of the most eagerly-anticipated rematches in boxing’s recent history.

Nottingham’s Froch, 36, won by a controversial ninth round referee’s stoppage in Manchester last November.

But now Londoner Groves, 26, says he will delight the 80,000-strong crowd at the national football stadium in the English capital with a spectacular finish.

“It’ll be the left hook that finishes Carl Froch on Saturday night,” Groves said at the final pre-fight press conference.

Froch, a three-time super-middleweight champion fired back, claiming he had been there and done it all before.