Basketball (The Office)

"Basketball"
The Office episode
The warehouse challenges the office to a game of basketball. During filming, the cast and crew were filmed playing real basketball games for two days straight.
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 5
Directed by	Greg Daniels
Written by	Greg Daniels
Production code	104
Original air date	April 19, 2005
Guest stars
Matt DeCaro as Jerry DiCanio Patrice O'Neal as Lonny Collins Craig Robinson as Darryl Philbin Karly Rothenberg as Madge Madsen
Episode chronology
← Previous "The Alliance" Next → "Hot Girl"
List of The Office (U.S. TV series) episodes

"Basketball" is the fifth episode of the first season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's fifth episode overall. The episode aired on NBC in the United States on April 19, 2005. The episode was written and directed by producer Greg Daniels, marking both his first solo writing credit and first directing credit for the series.

In this episode, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and the office staff take on the workers in the warehouse in a basketball game. Through racist and sexist ideals, Michael chooses many of the lesser skilled office workers over their more athletic peers. Michael claims a "flagrant personal intentional foul," stops the game, and declares his team as the winners. The warehouse finds the call unfair and Michael caves under pressure, and concedes the victory to the warehouse staff. Michael eventually tells the office that they don't have to come in on Saturday either.

The episode was inspired by a deleted scene from the first episode where Michael takes about a pick-up basketball game. For two days, the cast of The Office played actual basketball games, which were then spliced together to give the effect of one continuous game. In addition, several lines from the episode became fan and cast favorites. "Basketball" was viewed by an estimated 5.0 million viewers and received a 2.4/6% rating share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. The episode received positive reviews from critics.

Synopsis

Michael (Steve Carell) comes in to work prepared to pit the office staff against the warehouse in a game of basketball, with the losers having to work on Saturday. Michael picks Jim (John Krasinski), Ryan (B.J. Novak), Stanley (Leslie David Baker) (Michael's "secret weapon"), and, reluctantly, Dwight (Rainn Wilson) and Phyllis (Phyllis Smith) (as an alternate), but refuses to pick Oscar (he claims to be saving him if they play baseball, or box, as well as Kevin (Brian Baumgartner), who later demonstrates significant talent).

The game begins and Stanley, despite being seen as a great option for Michael's team (due to his race), is a horrible player. Furthermore, Michael cannot make a shot, nor is he a fan of passing or defending. Upon possession of the ball, Michael would fool around and intentionally act stupid to tease the opponents, which resulted in Roy (David Denman) snatching the ball and scoring against Michael's team. Despite the fact that Michael was the one who foolishly lost the ball, he blamed the scoring on his teammates' ineptness. During the game, Roy and Jim gradually become aggressive toward each other, with Pam (Jenna Fischer) looking on. Pam is once caught staring at a sweaty Jim. At a crucial point in the game, Michael is accidentally hit in the face. Michael claims it is a "flagrant personal intentional foul". He pettily stops the game and declares the office winners since they were winning when the foul occurred. The warehouse finds the call unfair and Michael caves under pressure, conceding the victory to the warehouse staff. As everybody returns to work, Kevin demonstrates his excellent shooting skills.

Afterwards, Michael, in a rare moment of heart, tells the office that they don't have to come in on Saturday either. However, his justification does little to calm them: "Like coming in an extra day is going to prevent us from being downsized."

Production

John Krasinski, a former high school basketball star, performed all his own stunts in the episode.

"Basketball" was written and directed by producer Greg Daniels. Although he wrote the episode, Greg Daniels was not originally schedule to direct "Basketball." Rainn Wilson remarked that he really pushed for Daniels to direct the episode. John Krasinski later applauded Greg Daniels for being the first writer to "take [the characters] out of the office." Daniels later said that his favorite shot from the episode was when Michael takes Ryan on a tour of the warehouse because "you got to see the whole basketball [set]." The editors cut for the episode was 40 minutes long. Steve Carell later argued that the American version of The Office was more difficult to shoot because the British version was 29 minutes long, whereas the American version could only be 22 minutes.

The inspiration for the episode was a delete scene from the pilot episode where Michael talks about a pick-up basketball game. During filming, the cast and crew were filmed playing real basketball games for two days. The takes were then spliced together to make it appear as if only one game had taken place. NBC was worried about the episode because several of their others pilots had done basketball episodes. The network put a lot of pressure on the cast and crew to make the episode appear "as realistic as it could be." Donald Lee Harris designed the warehouse set, a set Krasinski described as "amazing" and "detailed."

Several of the actors had basketball experience, such as John Krasinski, who played for his high school team. Brian Baumgartner, who portrays Kevin, actually succeeded in making 14 free-throw shots, of which several were included in the final footage. Steve Carell later said of his basketball skills, "The thing about looking like your bad at basketball is, it's like anything else, you have to be incredibly good in order to look bad […] but that's not the case with me and basketball. I just was bad." Carell later joked that he would "kick ass" at a hockey episode, a reference to his real-life hockey skills.

"Basketball" contained several lines that became fan and cast favorites. Two of Michael's lines, "The hand strikes and gives a flower" and "Blessed be those who sit and wait" were described by Wilson as Confucian and biblical, respectively. Carell later joked that Michael Scott himself should self-publish a book of inspirational sayings. Jenna Fischer later revealed that her line, "Please don't throw garbage at me" was her favorite line of the first season. Michael's line, "Try not to be too gay on the court" was improvised by Carell and Krasinski's reaction was real, as he had no idea Carell was going to say it.

Reception

Ratings

In its original American broadcast on April 19, 2005, "Basketball" was viewed by an estimated 5.0 million viewers and received a 2.4/6% rating share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. This means that it was seen by 2.4% of all 18–49 years olds, and 6% of all 18–49 year olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. The episode, airing after Scrubs, retained 92% or its lead-in audience.

Reviews

The episode received moderately positive reviews from critics. Travis Fickett from IGN retroactively gave the episode and 7.5 out of 10, signifying a "good" episode. He wrote that, "There is still quite a bit of funny stuff [in 'Basketball'], but in many ways, this episode suggests what the show would have been like had it taken a slightly different direction in terms of tone and style." Miss Alli from Television Without Pity gave the episode a A-. Jenna Mullins from E! News referred to "Basketball" as her "all-time favorite episode of The Office."

External links

• "Basketball" at NBC.com
• "Basketball" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Basketball" at TV.com