HOUSTON -- Houston defensive end Antonio Smith apologized Monday for using the word "spying" about New England, but didnt exactly back down from the accusations he made after the Texans loss to the Patriots. On Sunday after Houstons 34-31 loss, Smith told reporters that the Texans had some new wrinkles in their defence and it was "miraculous" how the Patriots changed their offence to key on the defence. He said then: "Either teams are spying on us or scouting us. I dont know what it is." On Monday, he said that he thought reporters in Houston knew him well enough to know that he could be joking and still be curious about something like this at the same time. "Im sorry I said the word spying because of a prior engagement of them being caught spying before," he said. The NFL fined New England coach Bill Belichick $500,000 and the team $250,000 and took away a first-round pick in the 2008 draft for videotaping New York Jets signals during a game on Sept. 9, 2007. Belichick said he thought that was allowed and apologized for what he said was a mistake in his interpretation of the rule prohibiting it. Belichick was asked on a conference call Monday morning if he saw Smiths comments. "Yeah, I saw them," he said. "I dont have any comment on them. I think thats a league matter." Houston coach Gary Kubiak also was questioned about what Smith said and refused to address them directly. "I have the utmost respect for their organization, their players, their coaches, their head coach and the standard that theyve been setting for a long, long time in this league," he said. "So ... they did a great job yesterday and have been doing it a long time." The loss extended Houstons franchise-record skid to 10 games. The Texans were up 17-7 at halftime before New England rallied for the win. Smith said Monday that he was surprised his comments caused such a stir and wondered why no one had a sense of humour about what he said. "Though it may be something I was curious about that kind of didnt seem right," he said. "Like how all of a sudden the change here? It wasnt a serious matter to where I was thinking: Aw man, theyre spying on us. Theyre cheating. Things like that to the point where it gets to a big story about me accusing them of cheating. Its me being me, being funny." Houston will try to end its skid Thursday night at Jacksonville. Discount NBA Jerseys . The struggling New Orleans Pelicans were simply overmatched. Crawford hit seven 3s on his way to 24 points, and the Clippers beat the Pelicans 123-110 on Monday night. "We understand what we do well. If we all do what we do well, well make our team stronger," Crawford said. Cheap NBA Jerseys . 5 Trade Deadline is drawing closer and teams will be deciding on whether to buy or sell while figuring out which players can make the biggest difference and hold the greatest value. https://www.nbachinajerseys.us/.com) - A pair of programs shooting for their 10th win of the season get together at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, as the NC State Wolfpack tangle with 22nd-ranked West Virginia during the challenge round of the Gotham Classic. NBA Jerseys Store . If one fighter gases, he usually gets beat up pretty bad from that point on. Clearance NBA Jerseys .Mateo Kovacic and Andrea Ranocchia scored for Inter, which had goalkeeper Samir Handanovic to thank for several crucial saves.Its an important victory against a Chievo side which plays well, Mancini said.Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Michael Carter-Williams scored 17 points with 10 assists and 10 rebounds for his fifth career triple-double, helping the Philadelphia 76ers to a 103-94 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night. Luc Mbah a Moute paced the Sixers with 18 points, while Nerlens Noel contributed 14 points, six rebounds and a career-high six blocks in the win. The Sixers, who have won two straight home games since taking the first two at home last season, snapped their season-opening 17-game losing streak with a win over Minnesota on Dec. 3. The bottom line is that we played defense in the second half. Thats where it starts and stops with me, Sixers coach Brett Brown said. Kevin Martin had 19 points, Nikola Pekovic tallied 18 points with seven rebounds and Gorgui Dieng posted 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Timberwolves, who looked to win two straight games for the first time this season. Philadelphia bridged the third and fourth quarters with an 11-0 run, as Hollis Thompsons layup gave the Sixers an 85-77. Minnesota went scoreless for the final two minutes of the third and did not register a point until Martin made a free throw 3:18 into the fourth. Wiggins then scored five straight points as part of a 7-0 buurst for the Timberwolves to cut the deficit to three with under seven minutes left.dddddddddddd Noel and Carter-Williams countered with successive layups as Philadelphia swept the season series. We turned the ball over a lot. We didnt show patience when we needed to, Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders said. The two bottom feeders went back and forth in a high-scoring first half. Nether team had a lead larger than six over the first 24 minutes. The Sixers shot 62.2 percent from the floor in the first half, while the Timberwolves made 57.9 percent of their shots. Minnesota led 28-26 after the first quarter, but Carter-Williams raced through defenders with under five seconds remaining in the second quarter and made a layup just at the buzzer sounded to hand Philadelphia a 61-59 lead at the break. The game remained close in the third as the Sixers took a 78-77 lead into the fourth. Game Notes Philadelphias first half was its highest-scoring half of the season ... The Sixers are now 4-34 when allowing more than 90 points ... Thaddeus Young, selected 12th overall by Philadelphia in 2007, had 10 points in the loss ... Philadelphia scored 23 points off 21 turnovers ... There were 19 lead changes and 16 ties. ' ' '