The scene with Jimmy and Coach Dale talking while Jimmy shot baskets was filmed in one take. Maris Valainis said that he "wasn't even listening to him. I was just concentrating on making them, and I made one, and they kept going in."
For the scene where Dennis Hopper stumbles onto the court drunk during the sectional game, Hopper wanted a 10-second notice before the director called action. He spun around for 10 seconds, allowing him to stagger onto the court and appear drunk. He remembered James Dean in Géant (1956) asking George Stevens for 30 seconds so he could spin around to better feel the inebriation.
In the locker room before the final game, on the blackboard are the last names of the players on the opposing team. These are the real last names of the actors who make up the Hickory team.
Gene Hackman, who during filming had predicted the movie would be a flop, insisted on viewing a rough cut of the film before going in to re-record some of his audio. "Angelo and I knew that if he didn't like the [rough cut], he wouldn't show up at the studio to re-record his dialog," David Anspaugh said. "But he showed up. He walked into the room, took his glasses off, looked me in the eyes, and said, 'How the hell did you do that?'"
Said director David Anspaugh, "[Before filming began] I was so excited to have Gene Hackman. He was the coolest guy to hang out with. He was funny and irreverent and [told] great stories and all that. And then, first day of shooting, I didn't recognize [him]. He became an entirely different person. And he just made it hell on Earth for me every day. ... He was everything negative. He wanted off the movie."