Indiana Pacers forward Jermaine O'Neal (7) shoots over New Jersey Nets center Nenad Krstic in the second period of their NBA game in East Rutherford, New Jersey, US, Thursday. (Reuters Photo)

NEW YORK, Dec. 31--Jermaine O'Neal scored 31 points, just hours after a judge ruled he did not have to serve the final 10 games of his suspension, to steer the Indiana
Pacers to a 96-83 win over the New Jersey Nets on Thursday, Reuters said.
O'Neal originally received a 25-game suspension for his part in a wild melee during a game in Auburn Hills on November 19 that led to multiple suspensions.
An arbitrator reduced it to 15 games last week and US District Judge George B. Daniels upheld that decision three hours before Thursday's game.
O'Neal scored nine points in the fourth quarter to help the Pacers win their third straight game and spoil the home debut of new Net Vince Carter.
Carter had 25 points to lead the Nets and had several dunks that delighted the first sell-out crowd of the season in New Jersey.
Jeff Foster added 16 points and a season-high 16 rebounds for the Pacers, who also got 17 points off the bench from Austin Croshere.
Jamaal Tinsley chipped in 15 points for the Pacers, who won three straight games for the first time since the brawl.
Richard Jefferson and Rodney Buford both scored 20 points for the Nets, while Jason Kidd had 11 rebounds, 10 assists and four points.
In other NBA games, Dwyane Wade had his first career triple-double as the Miami Heat extended their winning streak to a franchise-record 13 games with an 89-78 win over the Detroit Pistons in Auburn Hills.
Wade had 31 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists to help Miami win its 14th game of the month, another franchise high.
Shaquille O'Neal had 21 points for the Heat despite playing with a sore back and sore ribs.
Richard Hamilton scored 19 points for the Pistons and Ben Wallace added 13 points and nine rebounds. Rasheed Wallace also scored 13 points for Detroit.
In Atlanta, Ray Allen scored 20 points as the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Hawks 94-79 despite the ejections of Jerome James and Danny Fortson.
Rashard Lewis added 17 points for the Sonics, who are now 21-6, including 10-3 on the road.
Antoine Walker led Atlanta with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
In Portland, Tim Duncan had 19 points and nine rebounds to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a crushing 114-80 victory over the Trail Blazers.
Tony Parker added 18 points for the Spurs, while Darius Miles led Portland with 17 points.

SYDNEY, Australia, Dec. 31--British yacht Aera, skippered by round-the-world sailor Jez Fanstone, was declared the overall handicap winner of the gruelling Sydney-Hobart yacht race on Friday, Reuters said.
Aera is almost half the size of the Australian maxi Nicorette, which was first across the line in the 630 nautical mile race on Wednesday, and took just three days to complete the storm-tossed race down Australia's east coast. The British 55-footer (17 meter) yacht was fourth across the line but was declared the handicap winner with a corrected time of four days two hours 52 minutes and nine seconds to edge out Nicorette by about four-and-a-half hours.
All competitors are awarded corrected times based on complicated formulas which take into account their size and weight in relation to other boats and the actual time it took them to complete the race.
"This is truly the Everest of sailing," said Aera's owner Nick Lykiardopulo of Britain's Royal Yacht Squadron.
Aera is only the third British yacht to become handicap winner of the Sydney-Hobart.
The Royal Navy's Captain John Illingworth won the inaugural race in 1945 while Edward Heath, who later became British prime minister, won in 1969 with his yacht Morning Cloud.
There were still 21 smaller yachts at sea by Friday afternoon from a starting fleet of 116. None had any chance of challenging Aera and some will have been at sea for more than a week before they finish.
Gale-force winds and heavy seas forced the retirement of 56 boats, most of them during a storm which lasted for more than 36 hours in the notoriously rough Bass Strait between the Australian mainland and the southern island state of Tasmania.
Among those to pull out were super maxis and race favorites Konica Minolta from New Zealand and Australia's Skandia.

The new trainer of Real Madrid, Wanderley Luxemburgo (r) poses for the photographers with the vice-president and sports general manager of the club, Emilio Butragueno (c) and Real Madrid's sports director, Arrigo Sacchi, after his presentation at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, in Madrid, Thursday. (AFP Photo)

MADRID, Spain, Dec. 31--Former Brazil national coach Wanderley Luxemburgo on Thursday flew into Spain to become Real Madrid's fifth coach in 18 months.
The 52-year-old Luxemburgo, who replaces Mariano Garcia Remon, was previously at the helm of Brazilian club Santos but said Real had made an approach and he had been unable to refuse a ÔdreamÕ of a challenge, AFP reported.
"It's a great pleasure. To work with Real Madrid is the dream of any coach," he added, as Real presented him formally at a club board meeting minutes after his arrival at Madrid's Barajas international airport.
"I am very happy. Everything happened very quickly with the negotiations."
Luxemburgo touched down at 1203 GMT and was whisked off to the presentation ceremony and a half-hour news conference.
He will be on the touchline for Wednesday's home mini-match against Real Sociedad--the final seven minutes have to be played after a bomb threat caused the encounter on December 12 to be abandoned at the Bernabeu.
Luxemburgo had earlier told daily newspaper Estado de Sao Paulo. "I will sign a one-and-a-half year contract and will take up the position immediately," and confirmed as much at the conference. Real are in a mini-crisis with the club in fifth spot in the Spanish league, 13 points behind leaders and arch rivals Barcelona, although with one game in hand.
"I think there's a fair amount of work ahead," admitted Luxemburgo.
"There are four fundamental factors which the team needs to function as required. Discipline, unity, hard work and professionalism," Luxemburgo stressed as he mapped out "what we need to form a team to win competitions.
"This is a great responsibility for me as the first Brazilian coach of a club which is a byword for quality and greatness.
"But I am not afraid of this responsibility," underlined Luxemburgo, who added that Ôfootball is universalÕ.
The new man at the helm already knows two of the club's stars well, having coached samba stars Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos during two years in charge of the Brazilian national side between 1998 and 2000.
In 1999, he led the auriverde to the Copa America only to see the 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign almost come off the rails.
However, Luxemburgo has done well at club level in Brazil, where he has taken three teams to domestic championships.

SYDNEY, Australia, Dec. 31--Australia are not expected to show any charity in the season of goodwill when they tackle Pakistan in the third and final test starting at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday, Reuters said.
The world champions have already won the series after two crushing wins in Perth and Melbourne and their New Year's resolution is always to continue their ruthless spree.
Pakistan haven't beaten the Australians in a test for a decade and the odds are heavily stacked against them breaking their drought in Sydney.
Winning in Australia is always a formidable task but the tourists have been crippled by a mounting injury toll.
Paceman Mohammad Sami and all-rounder Shoaib Malik have already been ruled out of the final test with injury while captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and Abdul Razzaq remain in doubt.
Inzamam missed the second test with a back injury while Razzaq was twice admitted to hospital after suffering from a mystery illness.
Worse still for Pakistan has been the form of their fit players. They lost the opening test by 491 runs after being skittled for just 72 in their second innings and then collapsed to a nine-wicket defeat in Melbourne.
Despite the lopsided results, Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer said he was at least encouraged by the improvement in game two.
"I take a lot of positives out of the Melbourne game," Woolmer told reporters.
"It was a tremendously better result in terms of our cricket than in Perth and if we can maintain this upward curve we can learn to play against teams like Australia."
The home side are brimming with confidence, so much so that the selectors were able to release express bowler Brett Lee to play in domestic cricket because the pace trio of Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz have performed so well.
They also added Stuart MacGill and Shane Watson to their squad, giving them the option of playing an extra spinner on an SCG pitch that traditionally favors slow bowlers.

PARIS, Dec. 31--Russia's tennis tsarinas, who dominated 2004 with three of the four Grand Slams and a first ever Fed Cup to their names, aim to hammer home their dominance in 2005, AFP reported.
Of the 60 WTA events played in 2004, Russian women won 14 of them with Anastasia Myskina taking the French Open, Maria Sharapova the Wimbledon crown before Svetlana Kuznetsova snatched the US Open title.
By the end of the year, there were five in the top ten as they gleefully leapt into the gap left by the injury-plagued Belgian pair of Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters as well as the declining powers of the Williams sisters.
But despite their successes, no Russian woman managed to grab the world number one spot which would have been another first.
Instead, the end of year tussle at the top was won by American veteran Lindsay Davenport who edged Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo.
With the new season getting underway on Monday with tour events in Adelaide and Auckland as well as the Hopman Cup in Perth, it is that race to the top spot which is dominating the thoughts of the Russians.
"My goal for the new year is to get to number one and if I can achieve that it will be great," said Myskina.
"I want to win more Grand Slams like the French Open but first I am looking forward to the Australian Open." The Australian Open starts in Melbourne on January 17.
The Russian revolution may have been all-consuming in 2004, but it wasn't entirely peaceful with Myskina and Sharapova having a very public fallout which is set to disrupt the team's Fed Cup defense.
The row has been simmering since Sharapova defeated Myskina in the semi-finals of the WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles in November when the Wimbledon champion was hit with a code violation for receiving coaching from father Yuri.

LONDON, Dec. 31--Manchester United's push for the Premiership title suffered a major blow on Thursday when star striker Wayne Rooney was hit with a three-match ban after admitting a charge of violent conduct, the Football Association (FA) announced, AFP said.
The England striker will miss the Premiership matches against Middlesbrough on Saturday and Tottenham (Jan. 4) as well as the FA Cup third round clash with Exeter (Jan. 8).
The ban was imposed after United decided not to appeal against the charge which was brought when Rooney pushed his hand into the face of Bolton defender Tal Ben Haim at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Ben Haim, who was widely criticized for his reaction to the incident, has also been charged with improper conduct with Bolton confirming they will appeal.
Earlier Thursday, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson claimed the Football Association's discplinary procedures were "flawed and immoral.
Ferguson said: "The violent conduct charge bemuses me because every man and his dog would agree it was not violent conduct. If it is violent conduct why are they charging Ben Haim? I can't understand it.
"If it is violent conduct, Ben Haim should not be charged. He is being charged so they therefore believe he is guilty of diving and bringing the game into disrepute.
"It was no more than a push in the face, there was no swing of the arm or anything like that. The system is completely flawed."
Rooney's ban leaves United short of firepower with Ruud van Nistelrooy and Louis Saha both currently sidelined through injury.
While Ferguson would like the disciplinary system updated, United captain Roy Keane is anxious for things to change on the pitch.
"A lot of players seem to be looking to be getting players booked or sent off. That is something that has crept in over the last year or two," said Keane.
"There are a lot of cases where players are reacting and trying to get fellow professionals into trouble. It is disgraceful.
"It needs to stop. The PFA and the FA need to look at the situation. Lots of stuff goes on in a game. If you went down every time a player touched you, every player would be down.
"But you see it every weekend--when players do get touched, they are going down.
"They are trying to con the referee, con their fellow players and con the crowd.
"It is driving me crazy seeing them trying to get players in trouble."

LONDON, Dec. 31--Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger may have to reshuffle his team for Saturday's clash with London neighbors Charlton, AFP reported.
The Gunners snatched a third successive Premiership victory at Newcastle on Wednesday to close the gap on leaders Chelsea to five points but defender Lauren ended the game with a sore knee and with Dennis Bergkamp facing a late fitness test (thigh) and Jose Antonio Reyes out, Wenger may have to make changes.
Meanwhile, Wenger singled out skipper Patrick Vieira for praise after the Newcastle victory which was secured with a lone goal from the Frenchman.
"Patrick was great," said Wenger.
"For a guy who was sick before the game, he recovered very quickly. He scored a very important goal, but overall he was very good, very influential, especially in the first half when we were playing well."