 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.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- to 49-year-olds, and 6% of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast.