The Office: Basketball, 1.05

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The Office: Basketball

Writer: Greg Daniels, Director: Greg Daniels

Summary (DVD): Michael and select members of the staff train for a basketball game against warehouse workers. Confident that his team will be victorious, Michael bets that the losing side be required to work on a Saturday.

The Office Basketball extras

The Office Vine: Michael warms up for basketball

From The Office Basketball DVD commentary:

John Krasinski: B.J. and I were there, B.J. and I couldn’t stop looking at each other because we were getting a little weirded out. He hit 14 in a row.
Rainn Wilson: I saw him shooting and ran in to the room to Greg and Randall and was like, you guys have to get this. I have to take some credit for that.
John Krasinski: He hit 14 shots. And B.J. and I kept passing it to him, and by the end, we’re like, no way is this happening.
Greg Daniels: During the week, he kept saying that he was good at basketball. And I think we were a little skeptical. But then he turned out to be really good at basketball.

From Brian Baumgartner’s TV Guide blog:

I hit approximately 14 shots in a row in our first take of that sequence, and I have been told we had to edit them out for time. I believe that on the Season 1 DVD they show me make many more. The exact number has become a bit of lore around the set, but suffice it to say, I did make all the shots that were shown in the episode and quite a few more.

From Brian Baumgartner’s July 20, 2012, interview with ESPN:

ESPN: The basketball episode, draining 12 in a row? I imagine that being an awesome TV moment for you.

Brian: “For sure! I played basketball for a long time, and at a certain point, it was sweet vindication for me, for all my friends who excelled at sports. ‘Hey, have you guys drilled 10 3-pointers on national television?’ That moment specifically came out of shooting the show that week; it wasn’t really a scripted moment. Me and John Krasinski [who plays Jim Halpert] and Rainn Wilson [Dwight Schrute] and David Denman [Pam’s then-fiancé Roy] were playing horse, a little one-on-one between shots, and I was in a suit, which is even sweeter. Just kind of messing around. At a certain point I went and talked to Greg Daniels with John Krasinski, and we said, ‘Look, at the end of the game, have the cameras go to Brian at the end, see what he can do.’ Promise you, first take, I think on the DVD I made like 12 in a row, kind of like the free throw line and back.”

The Office Basketball quotes

Michael (making hand gesture): The hand strikes … and gives a flower.

Dwight: So we need someone to work this Saturday and I think that that should be (flings tie over his shoulder) … Jim.
Jim: God, this is so sad. This is the smallest amount of power I’ve ever seen go to someone’s head.

Pam: My fiancé has plans for us this Saturday. So I really hope Dwight doesn’t make me work. Maybe I should sleep with him. I’m kidding, kidding. Totally kidding.

Michael: And this is Roy. Roy dates Pam. You know, the uh, the best lookin’ one upstairs.
Ryan: Yeah yeah.
Michael: You still getting it regular man? Huh? I mean, I can tell her it’s part of the job. (Roy laughs nervously.)

Jim: Pam gets a little down. Her toaster oven broke. Uh, which she got at her engagement shower. Um, for a wedding that still has yet to be set. And that was three years ago.

Michael: Okay, so let’s put together a starting line-up, shall we? Stanley, of course.
Stanley: I’m sorry?
Michael: Um, what do you play, center?
Stanley: Why “of course”?
Michael: Uh …
Stanley: What’s that supposed to mean?
Michael: I don’t know. I, I don’t remember saying that.
Jim: Uh…I heard it.
Michael: Well, people hear a lot of things, man. Um … other starters … me, of course. I heard it that time.

Michael: Yes, this is business. The, uh, the business of team building and morale boosting. Uh, who else?
Oscar: I can … help out if you need me.
Michael: I will use your talents come baseball season, my friend. Or if we box.

Dwight: Can I be team captain?
Michael: No, I’m team captain.
Dwight: Can I be team manager?
Michael: No, I am the team manager. You can be assistant to the team manager.
Dwight: Assistant team manager?
Michael: No.

Pam: Please don’t throw garbage at me.

Jim: I’ll do it. Wear a little … flouncy skirt if you want, and …
Michael: Yeah, I bet you would. Just try not to be too gay on the court. And by gay I mean, um, you know, not in a homosexual way at all. I mean the uh, you know, like the bad-at-sports way. I think that goes without saying.

Pam: Maybe Angela would cheerlead.
Michael: Ooh, yeah, right.
Phyllis: I’ll do it.
Michael: Oh, yuck, that’s worse than you playing.

Michael: Blessed be those who sit and wait. You made it! Suit up, you’re on the team!

Jim: You gonna wish me luck?
Pam: Yeah, you’re gonna need it.
Jim: Whoa, is that trash talk from Pam?
Pam: I’m just saying, Roy is very competitive.
Jim: Oh.
Pam: And he wants to take the wave runners to the lake this Saturday, so…
Jim: Well, I’m going to the outlet mall on Saturday, so if you wanna save big on brand names … (Pam laughs) … and Roy has to work, which he will, because I’m also competitive, you should feel free to come along.
Pam: Um, I think I’m gonna be up at the lake
Jim: I think I’ll see you at the mall … yeah.

Michael: Uh, Pam? You kind of have your foot in both camps here, why don’t you do the, jump ball okay?
Roy: Don’t listen to him Pam. Trust me, tip it my way or you’re sleeping in the car.

Michael: Who am I, am I Michael Scott? I don’t know. I might just be a basketball machine.

Ryan (after Dwight steals the ball away): Same team, Dwight.

Michael: Like coming in an extra day is gonna prevent us from being downsized. Have a good weekend.

17 comments

  1. One of the most hysterical scenes in this episode is Dwight trying to drink water through his head guard and almost drowning.

    That, and stealing the ball from Ryan. “Same team, Dwight.”

  2. One of my favorite esisodes.
    One of the best comments in the entire run so far has to be when Michael sees Stanley actually begin to dribble and says “you’ve got to be kidding me”. I laughed for a week!

  3. I love the situation Michael gets himself in when he calls Jim gay, and says “yuck” to Phyllis cheerleading. Also Jim’s expression is too good.

  4. Jim’s reactionary expression to Michael’s “gay” comment never fails to make me laugh. One of my favorite lines of the series is in this episode

    Michael: “Grumble, grumble, but you would follow me to the ends of the earth, grumbling all the way, like that dwarf from Lord of the Rings.”

    Dwight: “Gimlee.”

    Michael: “NERD! That is why you are not on the team.”

    That cracked me up to no end when I first saw it, because even though I knew the dwarf’s name like Dwight did, I am aware that it is pretty nerdy.

  5. Another classic moment in this episode: michael doing like 3 minutes of (ridiculous, needless to say) preparation for his freethrow (a result of calling a totally tickytack foul on Roy), then missing the backboard altogether. So damn funny!

  6. my favourite bit was when michael did the “football is like rock, its all BOW BOW BOWWWW but basketball is like jazz its badabing bahading badabing *shows michael doing the move on the court and singing then Roy comes along and takes the ball and scores*

    PMSL MUCH??
    YES PLEASE

  7. You also have to love it, of course, at the little moment where a sweaty Jim runs by Pam and as the camera focuses you can see her lick her lips.

  8. “Is that like the robot”
    A great episode with Michaels’ awful basketball skills being the highlight

  9. I missed the first couple of years of “The Office” and am catching up with the repeats on TBS. The 5k for Rabies episode was my favorite until I saw the basketball one. I laughed so hard I wasn’t making any sound. This is, by far, the funniest show on TV today.

  10. Has anyone realised that when Michael says ‘Uh, Pam? You kind of have your foot in both camps here, why don’t you do the, jump ball okay?’, he could be referring to the future choice she was going to have to do between Jim and Roy?

    I know this is kind of late, like almost six seasons late :P, but I’ve just became aware of it :O

  11. Pam having her feet in both camps means that she works in the office (team 1) and her fiance works in the warehouse (team 2).

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