It was a three-pointer by Kobe Bryant - no, a four-pointer, after the referee added to the moment, signaling a foul. As the shot fell, Bryant stood tall and coolly held an index finger to his lips, signaling for quiet.

The crowd loved it, ignoring Bryant's order, screaming for their idol. Most stuck around to watch an American flag raised for a 118-107 U.S. victory.

Bryant's shot came at a crucial moment for the U.S. players. The big question: Could they handle the pressure after two weeks of easy games?

Spain had cut the deficit with less than four minutes left and was ready to claim gold.

"We all know Kobe likes to have the ball at the end," said Spain's star Pau Gasol, also Bryant's teammate with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Spain had an open shot that could have cut the U.S. lead to three with a minute left, but it didn't fall. All afternoon, the U.S. team built leads and Spain cut into them.

"You couldn't take one possession off - one second off," said LeBron James, who had emerged as the vocal U.S. team leader.

The Americans led largely because Dwyane Wade took over the first half, scoring 21 of his 27 points, grabbing four steals in just 13 first-half minutes. When it was over, Wade stood on the gold-medal podium with a video camera, filming everybody filming him.

After the failure of Athens in 2004, and another bronze medal at the 2006 World Championships, this American team will take its place among the greatest ever, not too far behind the 1992 Barcelona Dream Team, although nobody was claiming this team equaled that one.

"We played with great character in one of the greatest games in international basketball history," U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We tried to stop them. We couldn't stop them entirely."

This game offered no evidence of the stereotype of soft European basketball. Led by Gasol and his younger brother Marc, Spain outscored the United States in the lane, 57-52. Rudy Fernandez, about to join the Portland Trail Blazers, made 5 of 9 three-pointers. But he added to the tournament highlights with a driving dunk with Dwight Howard, the strongest U.S. big man, riding his left shoulder.

One of college basketball's best coaches, Krzyzewski clearly understood a light touch was needed with NBA stars. When Howard was called for an intentional foul for grabbing a Spanish player from behind by the shoulders, he came over to the bench, but it was Tayshaun Prince who talked to him. Krzyzewski walked over and tapped Howard on the butt as Howard continued to listen to Prince.

Krzyzewski said any thoughts about all egos being checked at the door were a misconception, as well as a cliche.

"We wanted you to bring all your egos, because that's how you get better," Krzyzewski said at a news conference attended by the U.S. team.

That press session was delightfully goofy.

A European reporter asked about how before the Olympics it was written there were too many individual stars on this team. Krzyzewski asked where he'd read that.

"I read it in a newspaper in Sweden," the guy said, identifying himself as a TV reporter from that country.

Hearing Sweden, James interjected.

"You guys have massages, right?" James deadpanned.

"Not from me, though," the TV guy said.

A little earlier, Bryant, who finished with 20 points, said, "What you saw today is a team. Everybody wants to talk about NBA players being selfish, being arrogant. . . ."

After the news conference, an Olympic worker said, "Happy birthday, Kobe."

Bryant turned 30 years old Saturday.

"Thank you," he said, moving through the crowd.

As soon as this Olympics began, it was apparent that Bryant had somehow become a cultlike figure in China. After the game, a couple of hundred people waited for a last glimpse. A college student was standing there waiting - "it's no use; we wait and wait" - and said he sometimes skipped classes to watch the NBA, which appears live in the morning here.

They just get the games here, no soap operas in the paper, no controversies. They see the cool smile and watch the dunks and are discerning enough to believe Bryant is the best player on the planet, in the same galactic stratosphere as soccer's David Beckham, another cult figure in Asia, who watched the basketball game from the third row.

There is no denying that Kobe is a long, long way from Lower Merion High. As the bus finally pulled through the crowd, most U.S. players had their own cameras out. Guard Deron Williams popped his head up through a hatch in the roof of the bus. Williams began chanting, "USA! . . . USA!"

The crowd chanted back.

"KO-BE! . . . KO-BE!"

or mjensen@phillynews.com.