Remember the episode of the British version of The Office where Tim (Martin Freeman) showed people around and took them to the warehouse? That was basically a one-off incident (except for that one other time when David Brent lied about firing someone), a 2-minute laugh that didn't lead to much else. In the US version, however, the warehouse workers play a more substantial role (for one thing, Pam's fiancé is one of them), and this episode is the first good example of that.
In his eagerness to prove his staff is top notch, Michael challenges the warehouse workers in a basketball game, to be held in the warehouse. Naturally, since he doesn't want to lose, the rule-book can be subject to a few, uh, tweaks, as the boss, Dwight, Jim and the others take on Roy (Kevin Denman), Darryl Philbin (Judd Apatow collaborator Craig Robinson) and the rest of the workers.
Whereas the previous shows were all about embarrassing dialogue exchanges, Basketball manages to combine verbal and visual comedy, with terrific results: the game in itself is a major treat, as are Michael's bizarre morale-boosting remarks (which include calling Jim "gay" and dismissing Dwight as a "nerd" - not that he's wrong about the latter). Still very wrong, and very, very funny.
