LONDON — The Americans stood together on the highest platform, in the same place everyone but Spain figured they would stand Sunday afternoon. An official hung gold medals around their necks, and in that moment, the favorites, a collection of basketball millionaires, reverted to childhood.


Kevin Love tossed up a “hang loose” sign. Anthony Davis raised his hand as if someone were taking attendance for the medal ceremony. Kobe Bryant went with the double fist pump.


The most emotion, though, came from the least expected source. It came from Coach Mike Krzyzewski, a West Point graduate for whom stoic is an understatement. Krzyzewski, who silenced a roomful of supporters that clapped for him at a team dinner Friday, jumped up and down, up and down, as if attempting a new record in the vertical leap.


His players later doused Krzyzewski with some official sponsor postgame beverage, after they again toppled Spain in an Olympic final, this time by 107-100. Then they went back to the celebration. They looked vulnerable, human, less professional and more Olympic.


“When I was hearing the national anthem, it felt like someone was pouring hot water down my back,” Tyson Chandler said. “Just chills going down my spine.”


Somewhere in the postgame revelry, Krzyzewski found LeBron James, the forward who did everything in these Olympics except carve the gold medals by hand. James collected 19 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals Sunday. He took over late in the fourth quarter.


It was, then, just another night in this, the Summer of LeBron. James joined Michael Jordan as the only players to win an N.B.A. championship, N.B.A. most valuable player honors and Olympic gold in the same year.


James, more than any other player, assisted Krzyzewski and chairman Jerry Colangelo in USA Basketball’s resurgence. Colangelo watched the Americans lose in the 2004 Olympics and found himself “as embarrassed as anyone else,” he said Sunday. James played in those Games, played being relative, as he mostly sat on the bench.


Colangelo took over in 2005. He hired Krzyzewski. He befriended James, even flew to Akron, Ohio, for a sit-down. Those events, along with an overhaul of the development system, a summer commitment required of the players, a loss to Greece in the world championships in 2006 and a gold medal in Beijing, combined to restore the expected dominance.


That all culminated again Sunday, when James helped Krzyzewski make some history of his own. Krzyzewski joined Henry Iba as the only United States men’s coach to lead teams to two consecutive Olympic titles, and in his last international game, too, although he left the door open afterward, if only just a crack.


Under Colangelo, Krzyzewski and James, Team USA improved to 62-1 with its latest triumph. There was Krzyzewski, soaked and teary-eyed, holding James in a fatherly embrace.


They needed help, of course, especially Sunday, especially against a Spain team that lost twice in pool play and yet trailed by only 1 point when the third quarter ended here. Pau Gasol had taken over, had muscled into the paint, where Team USA had no answer for him.


Even as Bryant kept the Americans close in his own likely Olympic finale, as he scored to counteract Gasol, his Los Angeles Lakers teammate, it seemed fair to wonder if the Americans could actually be defeated. Chris Paul gathered his teammates in a huddle. They came too far, worked too hard, he told them, to lose the one game that really mattered.


Kevin Durant, same as throughout the Olympics, provided instant offense, a jolt whenever the United States went cold. He led all scorers with 30 points against the Spaniards, and his 156 points in the tournament set a United States record for one Olympics.


The Americans pulled away in the fourth quarter, behind Paul and James. Paul seemed indicative of the talent at Krzyzewski’s disposal, a player among the talented in the N.B.A. who sometimes went unnoticed for long stretches.


“It all seems like a blur right now,” he said. “We all played our parts.”