Who won the movie
Ray Allen
Roger Ebert
Overacting Award
Bill Nunn
Most Rewatchable Scene · 25:47
Bill Simmons: The opening playground game is praised for authentic basketball and the players' elaborate names.
Jake buying the Air Jordan 13s and then meeting Jesus in the park is praised as a compact reunion sequence.
The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson · 1:59:15
Bill Simmons: Distrust of everyone surrounding an elite, poor basketball prospect is identified as Spike Lee's intended lesson.
Selected cast credits · Film reference
In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.
The final one-on-one game
The premise, Denzel's 1998 look and jump shot, the Air Jordan 13s, young Ray Allen and Rosario Dawson, and the stature of college coaches
Public Enemy's He Got Game when Lala is introduced
The grilled cheese
Big Time's car scene, Jake at the cemetery, and Jesus with Lala by the fireworks are nominated.
The sex-worker subplot
College as a long-term choice for an elite prospect, the absence of a major hip-hop soundtrack, uneven supporting acting, the supernatural ball ending, and Uncle Bubba's menace
Any scene in the sex-worker subplot works, especially the roughly eight-minute hotel stretch around minutes fifty to fifty-eight.
No better title
The downfall-of-great-men line, the black/white/green money line, and Sip's Rail Splitters boast are nominated.
No selection
Kobe Bryant, Stephon Marbury, Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady, and Allen Iverson are discussed as alternatives to Ray Allen, whose maturity and size are ultimately defended.
Big Time's observed performer Roger Gunverer Smith, Thomas Jefferson Bird as Sweetness, and Leonard Roberts as DeAndre are considered.
Big Time as the expected winner; the Chasey Lane/Jill Kelly pair with a rival vote
John Tortoro as high-school coach; Robert De Niro or Al Pacino as TechU coach
Unrealized sequel talks, Rosario Dawson's age and later account, and the John Henry meaning of the opening song
Travis Best; the performers observed as Chasey Lane and Jill Kelly; 1990s SportsCenter; Air Jordan 11s
Big Time
The coach cameos, Lala-DeAndre pool scene, early reveal of Lala's betrayal, Jesus living alone with his sister, the mother's fatal fall, Jake's fifteen-year sentence, recruiting timing, Jesus not turning pro, and an unmasked prison quarantine
A retired Jesus Shuttlesworth sequel; She Got Game about his daughter; He Had Game about a broke veteran and attention-seeking Jake
Samuel L. Jackson as Jim Brown’s partner or the high-school coach
Denzel Washington for acting; Public Enemy’s title song for Best Original Song
Whether the film foreshadowed LeBron's era, accidentally named TikTok, and how Kobe Bryant's life and the Lakers would change if he starred
The supernatural ball transfer
The authentic Lincoln Jesus Shuttlesworth jersey
Trust no one when you are a great but poor basketball prospect
About twenty-five minutes too long; dragging sex-worker scenes; Jesus’s unusually unprotected high-school life for a future top pick
