| "Basketball" | |||
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| The Office episode | |||
The Warehouse challenges the Office to a heated game of "Basketball". |
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 5 |
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| Directed by | Greg Daniels | ||
| Written by | Greg Daniels | ||
| Production code | 104 | ||
| Original air date | April 19, 2005 | ||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of The Office (U.S. TV series) episodes | |||
"Basketball" is the fifth episode of the first season of U.S. television comedy The Office. It was written and directed by Greg Daniels. It first aired on April 19, 2005.
In this episode, Michael pits the office staff against the warehouse workers in a basketball game in order to determine which group will have to come to work on a Saturday.
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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."
The Season One DVD contains a number of deleted scenes from this episode. Notable cut scenes include:
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