(CNN) TV viewers watching the Chicago Bulls Game Against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night they might have been wondering what the loud yelling sounds like whenever the home team makes a free throw.
The origin of the hype was Bulls star DeMar DeRozan’s daughter, who was doing her best to hold off the Raptors players during their moment of focus. With nine-year-old Diar DeRozan’s best efforts – and ear-piercing screams – it seemed to work.
The Raptors shot 18-for-36 (50%) at the free throw line as the Bulls rallied from a 19-point deficit to win 109-105 in an NBA Play-In game.
This is the team’s worst free throw percentage performance this season and the most fouled in a playoff game since 1969, according to ESPN.
Cameras captured Diar sitting near the basket at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto screaming at the top of her lungs at the moment the Toronto player was about to fire the ball for a free throw.
Bulls insider KC Johnson described The volume Diar managed to produce, saying that – despite sitting across from the area and levels above in the media center – “can be heard clearly every day” at every “free throw.”
After the game, after contributing 23 points and seven rebounds, DeRozan admitted that his daughter’s effectiveness surprised him.
“It just went viral,” he told reporters with a smile. “I didn’t let it soak in. I kept hearing something and there was a free throw and someone missed and I looked back and was like, ‘Damn, that’s my daughter screaming?'” “
DeRozan, a former Raptors player, explained that Diar actually asked her father if she could take a day off at school to visit the town where she spent the first few years of her life growing up.
DeRozan said, “My daughter called me the other day when she was getting out of school and just said, ‘Daddy, can I come to the Toronto game?'”
DeRozan dribbles during the game against the Raptors.
“I remember her going to all the Toronto games as a kid, and I almost said no because she’s home at school. But she kept asking. She was adamant about coming for backup and I said, ‘Well, you can miss one school day and come to a game.'” I’m glad I did. I definitely owe her some money.”
Despite her effectiveness, DeRozan was adamant that Diar would not travel to Miami for the team’s crucial final game against the Heat to decide whether or not it appears in the playoffs.
He said, “You should go back to school.”
Whether or not she’d be in Florida for Friday’s game, for one night only, Diar was the most certainly “DeMVP of the night.”
West exit
In the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder upset the New Orleans Pelicans in game play, winning 123-118.
Josh Gede led the Thunder with 31 points and 10 assists, while Shay Gilgos Alexander added 32 points in the win. Brandon Ingram led the Pelicans with 30 points in the losing effort.
The Thunder will now travel to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves for a spot in the playoffs to take on the #1 seed Denver Nuggets.
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