Faf du Plessis has distanced the South Africa team from former captain Graeme Smiths warning that Australia is on the wane following a string of defeats. Smith listed loss of confidence, the rotation policy, a packed schedule and the struggles of Steven Smith to assert himself as a leader as heaping pressure on the hosts, but du Plessis would not be drawn into the war of words.I dont know too much about it. I just read something about the culture and Im always of the position if you dont know exactly whats going on, you cant comment on that, du Plessis said. I dont know enough about the Australian culture, so I cant comment on it. From the outside, it seems the same as always.Steven Smith echoed that opinion and insisted his team remained unaffected by the issues Graeme Smith mentioned. Im not sure what Graeme Smith knows about Australian cricket, Smith said. He obviously wasnt involved in it. I think the teams in a good place at the moment, weve got a good culture, built on constant improvement and getting better. The guys are in a good place, were a tight-knit group and were ready to hopefully turn this around this week.On Wednesday evening, when Graeme Smith was inducted as a Bradman Honouree at the SCG - alongside Bill Lawry, who was the last Australia captain to lead the side to a home series win after losing the first Test in 1968 - he seemed to sympathise with Steven Smiths attempts to forge his own captaincy style. I look at him and you kind of think hes trying to figure a lot of stuff out at the moment, Graeme Smith said. But as a leader, I think you need to understand that for yourself about who you are and thats the only time you can really get your team to play with that personality. I think hes trying to figure that all out at the moment. It certainly looks that way and he looks a bit lost.Steven Smith admitted he expected to come under criticism, given the teams performance and hopes. Ive seen a lot of the criticism and I guess when youre losing cricket games that sort of criticism is warranted so weve got to try and turn it around and play the way that Australia does best and thats by winning games of cricket in Australia, he said. Some of the naysaying has come from within. Shane Warne has been among those who have questioned Smiths tactics, particularly on the third morning of the Perth Test when Nathan Lyon was not used at all. South Africa added 118 runs in that session and lost just one wicket to bat Australia out of the match and Warne believes Smith could have done more to make inroads in that period.Smith stuck to his guns and maintained that he was hoping to make use of reverse swing. Warneys entitled to his opinion, but I stand by the way I did things, he said. We saw in that game that the reverse swing was the biggest player in the game and it was the decision to be made whether the quicks were going to do the job and get the ball reversing.Despite that, Australias captain conceded his team had underperformed but said they had done enough work to be ready for a better show in Hobart. Weve not been good enough and I guess for me its about making sure that the guys are upbeat and ready for the challenge out there in the middle, he said. Weve prepared very well like we have for every Test match. The guys feel like they are in a good place so its about going out there and making sure that we get the job done. Wholesale Mens AQ0996-007 Acronym x Nike VaporMax Moc 2 The Illusional Ja Black/Volt-Black . 1, meaning problems for the doping controls at both major international sports events next year. 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Also Wednesday, Gilles Simon (6) of France beat Donald Young of the United States 6-4, 6-3, Ukraines Alexandr Dolgopolov downed Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-4 and Croatias Ivo Karlovic defeated Dudi Sela of Israel 7-6 (4), 6-2. Wholesale Mens/Womens Nike Air VaporMax 97 Black Reflect Black/White AO4542-001 . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011. HOUSTON -- The Houston Rockets were determined to make up for losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in their season opener. It was clear from the beginning Wednesday night that things would be different this time around.Eric Gordon made a career-high eight 3-pointers and scored 26 points to help the Rockets cruise to a 134-95 victory.James Harden added 25 points in three quarters. The Rockets scored a season high and extended their winning streak to a season-best four games.They have a lot of good road wins and for us that first game we played this season we lost so we wanted a get-back game, Harden said.The Rockets were up by 12 in the third quarter, then had a 22-6 run to make it 96-68 and put the game out of reach with about 3 minutes left in the quarter. Houston made four 3-pointers and got a nifty one-handed dunk from Clint Capela in that run to pad the lead.Gordon already had four 3-pointers 7 minutes into the first quarter after making each of his first four attempts. It was his seventh straight game with at least four 3-pointers, which is a franchise record.Im just settling in on my role and my role is definitely to bring a different energy and scoring, playmaking with the second unit, he said. Im settling in and its getting better and better. Teammates look for me and its just up to me to knock down shots.Houston has its longest winning streak since taking five straight in January.Lou Williams led the Lakers with 24 points. They have lost four in a row, their longest skid of the season.We just didnt play well, he said. It was just one of those nights where we didnt respond to anything that was going on.The Rockets led by 18 after a layup by Gordon to start the second quarter. It was the only shot he made that wasnt a 3-pointer. The Lakers got going after that, using a 17-6 run to cut the lead to 51-44 about five minutes before halftime. Brandon Ingram made two 3-pointers in that stretch and Jordan Clarkson capped the run withh a 3.ddddddddddddHouston got back on track after that and had pushed the lead to 67-52 with 1.4 second left in the half. Lou Williams cut the deficit after that when he hit a 3-pointer from beyond half court at the buzzer.TIP-INSLakers: Coach Luke Walton said DAngelo Russell (sore left knee) is getting better but he isnt sure when hell return. ... Williams scored more than 20 points for the ninth time this season. ... Julius Randle added 21 points and 10 rebounds.Rockets: Scored a season-high 43 points in the first quarter. ... Made 15 3-pointers to extend their NBA record of games with at least 10 3s to 21. ... Gordon has scored at least 20 points in four of the last six games. ... The Rockets had 67 points at halftime and have scored at least 60 points in the first half in five of their last seven games. ... Harden had eight assists, six rebounds and four steals.SO CLOSEHoustons Patrick Beverley came three rebounds shy of his first career triple-double, finishing with 10 points, seven rebounds and tying a career high with 12 assists. Coach Mike DAntoni said he kept him in a little longer than the other starters to give him a shot to get it.Harden joked about the 6-foot-1 Beverleys inability to get those last rebounds.I wanted him to get a triple-double so bad, Harden said. Every rebound he tried to get he couldnt get it because hes so small.NO EXCUSESWalton wouldnt make excuses for this lopsided loss despite the Lakers playing without Russell and Nick Young, who is also out with an injury.Obviously, we are missing key players and we are going to lose games, but if were just sitting around as a team saying were waiting for this guy or that, thats not the mindset you want ... thats not an acceptable excuse, he said.UP NEXTLakers: Host Phoenix on Friday nightRockets: Visit Oklahoma City on Friday night. ' ' '