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MONACO -- Nico Rosberg took pole position for the Monaco Grand Prix ahead of Lewis Hamilton on Saturday after making a late error that left his Mercedes teammate visibly irate at missing out on a shot at qualifying in first place. Ryan Kesler Ducks Jersey . With Rosberg holding the best time, the Mercedes pair went out for one final qualifying lap with less than a minute remaining in the session, but the German lost control coming out of the Mirabeau turn, sliding down an escape road. After Rosberg backed out onto the circuit, a yellow flag came up -- meaning the session was over and Hamilton could not improve on his time. It was an incident that fuelled the growing rivalry between the two runaway leaders in the overall standings, with Hamilton insinuating afterward that he would get revenge. "I have apologized to Lewis for having hindered the opportunity for him to improve his lap time," Rosberg said. "I locked up the rears (tires) and then the fronts at the bumpy downhill part of the track before turn five." Stewards cleared Rosberg of any wrongdoing after studying video and telemetry evidence of his manoeuvre. Its the second pole of the season for Rosberg. Hamilton-- who leads Rosberg by just three points in the overall standings -- has the other four. Given that nine out of the past 10 Monaco GPs have all been won from pole position, Rosberg has a great chance to reclaim the overall lead from Hamilton. Rosberg won from pole position here last year for his maiden win. Rosbergs leading time was one minute 15.989 seconds, with Hamilton clocking 1:16.048 and Red Bulls Daniel Ricciardo was in third at 1:16.384. Four-time defending champion Sebastian Vettel of Germany finished fourth, while Fernando Alonso of Ferrari was fifth. Tension has been building over the last few days, with Hamilton even publicly questioning whether his teammate has enough desire. Although reluctant to discuss the incident in the post-qualifying news conference, Hamilton was later asked if the situation within Mercedes now compares to the internal rift between the late Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, who had an extremely tense relationship racing against each other for McLaren in the late 1980s. Quizzed by British broadcaster BBC if his relationship with Rosberg was heading the same way, Hamilton responded "essentially" before adding: "I dont know if Senna and Prost sat down and talked it out. I quite like the way Senna dealt with it, so Im going to take a page out of his book." In 1989 Prost took out Senna late in the Japanese Grand Prix to win the title. At the same circuit a year after, Senna did the same to Prost, then with Ferrari, on the first turn to clinch the championship. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff played down the incident. "I dont think anybody does that deliberately. He missed his braking and he took the exit. Thats it," Wolff said. "There is no difficulty in managing this situation of the drivers. We have spoken to them in the debrief and it was all OK." Earlier Saturday, however, Mercedes chairman Dieter Zetsche sounded almost prophetic when he said "fierce fighting for the No. 1 position" between Hamilton and Rosberg can only be good for the sport. Hamilton, the 2008 F1 champion, recently questioned his teammates hunger to win at the highest level and referred to what he considered Rosbergs easier upbringing as the son of an F1 driver. "I come from a not-great place in Stevenage and lived on a couch in my dads apartment, and Nico grew up in Monaco with jets and hotels and boats and all these kind of things," Hamilton said Thursday. "If I were to come here believing that Nico is hungrier than me then I might as well go home." Hamilton has won the past four races while Rosberg won the season opener in Australia, where Hamilton retired with engine failure. While Rosberg was smiling at the post-qualifying conference, a stern-faced Hamilton gave short answers when asked what he thought about the incident, saying "not really much" and "I was on target, yeah." Rosberg tried to soothe the situation. "Of course Im sorry for Lewis, I didnt know where he was," Rosberg said. Asked to respond to Rosbergs apology, Hamilton shrugged his shoulders and mumbled: "I dont have an answer to it." Told that it was ironic that Rosbergs mistake had led to the yellow flag and stopped the British driver, Hamilton flatly responded "yeah, its ironic." On the track, the German driver looked jubilant as he stepped out of his Mercedes, with Hamilton standing glum-faced close by. Hampus Lindholm Jersey . The 26-year-old Sobotka injured his left leg playing for the St. Louis Blues in a 3-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday. The Blues said he would not recover from the injury in time for the Olympic tournament. Korbinian Holzer Jersey .Kessy tried to show what he can do playing left wing for the Oilers in 5-0 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday in pre-season action. http://www.authenticduckspro.com/Ryan-kesler-ducks-jersey/ . Alfredo Simon lowered his ERA to 0.86, and the Reds beat the Chicago Cubs 4-1 Friday for their 16th win in their last 17 games at the Friendly Confines.The Dallas Mavericks made a bold move to upgrade their backcourt, an indication that they expect to challenge for the NBA title this season, though its not a move without risk. Numbers Game breaks down the Rajon Rondo trade. The Mavericks Get: PG Rajon Rondo and PF Dwight Powell. Rondo, 28, is a pass-first point guard who has averaged a league-leading 11.0 assists per game since the start of the 2010-2011 season and leads the league this season with 10.8 assists (and 76.1 total passes) per game. As a shooter, Rondo is abysmal. He can penetrate and get to the rim, though he has not been as effective driving the ball to the basket this season, averging 6.6 drives per game, compared to 9.5 per game last season. Rondos inability to hit jump shots makes it easy for defenders to give him more room on the perimeter and his horrific free-throw shooting -- hes hitting a career-low 33.3% from the line this year -- doesnt offer much reason to do anything but get physical with him when he attempts to get near the basket. At his best, Rondo can be a tenacious defender, with long arms which help him steal the ball and hes an exceptional rebounder, averaging a career-high 7.5 rebounds per game this season, but hes also run into injury problems, playing 143 of a possible 252 games since the start of the 2011-2012 season. In Dallas, a healthy Rondo should be an asset. He doesnt need to shoot often, as the Mavericks have Dirk Nowitzki, Monta Ellis and Chandler Parsons ready and willing to fire away, and Rondos other skills -- most notably ball distribution and rebounding -- will be clear upgrades for the Mavericks. Rondo makes a little less than $12-million this season and will be a free agent at seasons end. Powell is 23-year-old rookie from Toronto, who played four years at Stanford and was a second-round pick by Charlotte in the summer; he has since been traded to Cleveland, Boston and now Dallas. Thats a lot of different franchises in a short period of time as a pro, and hes only played nine minutes in the NBA this season, but the athletic 6-foot-11 forward did put up 21.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game in four games in the D-League. It might be a stretch to imagine Powell playing any kind of role for a contending Mavericks team this season, but they are a little thin in the frontcourt, so its not out of the question that Powell could see some action. Powells contract runs through next season, and pays $507,336 this season then $845,059 next season. The Celtics Get: PF/C Brandan Wright, PG Jameer Nelson, SF Jae Crowder, a conditional first-round pick in 2015 and second-round pick in 2016. Teemu Selanne Jersey. Wright, 27, had found a niche as an extremely efficient big off the bench for Dallas, shooting a league-best 69.7% from the field since the start of last season. The 6-foot-9 power forward shoots such a high percentage because he rarely bothers to shoot from beyond 15 feet, and does most of his damage close to the basket. In Boston, Wright should fit into the Celtics big-man rotation with Kelly Olynyk and Jared Sullinger. Making $5-million this season, Wright will be a free agent at seasons end. Nelson is a 32-year-old point guard that had trouble adjusting to Dallas, scoring a career-low 7.3 points per game while shooting a career-low 37.4% from the field. Earlier in his career, Nelson could penetrate and get close to the basket more regularly but, whether its age, his role in the Mavericks offence or some combination of the two, Nelson was rarely getting to the rim and his shooting percentage suffered as a result. In the first year of a two-year, $5.5-million deal, Nelson can fit into the Celtics rotation, but it does appear that hes in decline, so not much more than a stopgap solution for a team that hopes to get better. 24-year-old Crowder has been a back-of-the-rotation player, playing 10 minutes per game this season, averaging 3.6 points and 1.2 rebounds per game, shooting 43.4% from the field and 34.2% on threes. Hes making $915,243 this season and will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season, but can fill a role as an inexpensive wing defender. Boston also received a conditional first-round pick in 2015 and a second-round pick in 2016. Any pick from the Mavericks is likely to fall in the bottom third of the round; looking at picks 21-30 from 2004 through 2013, there were an average of just under two picks per year in that range that turned into NBA starters, but about six in 10 were multi-year rotation players, so there is some value to a late first-round pick, but hitting a home run (like Rondo, Kyle Lowry or Kenneth Faried) is rare. On top of all that, the Celtics have a $12.9-million trade exception available to them when looking to make further moves. Verdict: The Mavericks have an opportunity to compete for a championship this season and Rondo gives them a guard that can go head-to-head with the other quality point guards in the Western Conference. If, for whatever reason, it doesnt work, the cost wasnt really prohibitive -- some pieces that can be helpful, but no shooting stars going the other way. Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca ' ' '