OPINION | WALLY HALL: Cream rises to the top late for Team USA | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

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Call them the Cream Team.

The USA men's basketball team rose to the top in the final quarter to advance to the gold medal game with a 95-91 win over Serbia, which led most of the way and had no quit in it.

What they didn't have was an All-NBA bench.

Steph Curry scored 36 points, hitting 9 of 14 threes, and while he kept his team in it, Kevin Durant came off the bench to spark the Americans with seven second-half points as the USA Cream Team outscored Serbia 32-15 in the final quarter.

It was a typical NBA effort, coast through three quarters and then lower the boom down the stretch.

The Americans trailed 76-63 after three quarters, but then they turned up the defensive pressure and when Coach Steve Kerr substituted. there was no dropoff in defensive effort.

The USA took a 87-86 lead with 2:21 to play on a three-pointer by Curry, and then LeBron James grabbed a defensive rebound and roared coast-to-coast for a layup.

Curry added two more on a steal and layup, but Serbia pulled to within two on a three-point play with 56 seconds to play.

Durant faked and baked and hit a jumper with 34 seconds to play. After a Serbia miss, Curry iced the cake with two more free throws.

He scored America's first two points, its last two and and 32 in between. James took only nine shots but still finished with three double-figure stats.

He scored 16, grabbed 12 rebounds and had 10 assists.

They are the Cream Team, but they face the home team in the gold medal game against France, where basketball has become a passion the last decade and who is led by Victor Wembanyana, the current NBA Rookie of the Year.

. . .

All those celebrities and former Olympians who have shown up in Paris to watch the games are costing NBC a cool $50 million.

Leading the way is Snoop Dogg, who is making $500,000 a day for going to the games and talking about them for a few minutes each day.

If American athletes win a medal, they are paid $37,500 for gold, $22,500 for a silver and $15,000 for a bronze.

If you compete in gymnastics, which has several individual matches as well as team competition, you can make a lot of money.

Simone Biles banked $135,000 from the Olympics.

That is what came from the United States Olympic Committee and yes the Paralympic athletes make the same, as they should.

Sponsorships and endorsements are the main source of income for Olympic athletes, many of whom train year round.

. . .

Just when you thought the NCAA couldn't do anything to lose more respect, they step up and give Jim Harbaugh a four-year suspension and show-cause order for something he allegedly did four years ago.

Maybe the NCAA didn't notice Harbaugh resigned at Michigan after winning the national championship last season.

He is now the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers of the NFL, a league that doesn't fall under the umbrella of the NCAA.

They aren't even on the same beach.

This is like Mrs. Holcomb making me write 100 times "I won't talk when she is talking" in the sixth grade.

It is highly doubtful the 60-year-old Harbaugh is returning to the college ranks.

He's being paid $16 million a year and he doesn't have to deal with NIL or the transfer portal. Now he is where free agency has rules and is governed by the NFL.

The NCAA has already said it is investing Sherrone Moore for the tired, ancient case of stealing signals, a crime Harbaugh did time for last season when he sat out the final three games of the regular season.

What the NCAA needs to do is focus on its future, not Harbaugh's.

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OPINION | WALLY HALL: Cream rises to the top late for Team USA | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

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