Bulls Star DeRozan's Screaming 'Viral' Daughter Posts Assist In Win

CHICAGO — The Chicago Bulls lived to see another day with a come-from-behind victory over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night, but their real Most Valuable Player from the win may not even be on the roster.

Diar DeRozan, the daughter of Bulls star DeMar DeRozan, is being hailed as a hero after the 9-year-old girl screamed at the top of her lungs every time the Raptors attempted a free throw in the 109-105 Bulls victory in Toronto.

The Raptors, who entered the game shooting better than 78 percent as a team from the free-throw line, ended up shooting 50 percent (18-of-36) from the free-throw line in the loss, which ended their season. The Bulls, who erased a 19-point deficit in the second half of Wednesday night’s play-in game, advance to play the Miami Heat on Friday night with the winner advancing on as the Eastern Conference’s No. 8 seed to face the Milwaukee Bucks.

Diar’s piercing screams could be heard on the television broadcast, and it wasn’t long before the girl, who was sitting underneath the basket, was quickly identified. DeRozan, who scored 23 points in the victory, said he allowed his daughter to skip a day of school to make the trip to Toronto, where DeRozan spent the first nine years of his NBA career.

DeRozan told reporters after the victory that his daughter "went viral” because of her effort to help her father’s team extend their season.

“I haven’t let it soak in yet,” DeRozan told reporters after Wednesday's victory. “I kept hearing something during the game when there was a free throw when somebody missed, and I looked back and thought, ‘Damn, that’s my daughter screaming?’ I was just making sure she was alright, though.”

Chuck Swirsky, the Bulls’ radio play-by-play announcer, told Patch in a text message on Thursday that despite all the attention Diar’s vocal abilities attracted, they managed to slip under the radar of himself and his broadcast partner Bill Wennington.

“Honestly, I was so locked in, I didn’t hear it,” Swirsky wrote in the text message.

DeRozan said his daughter called him earlier this week and asked to make the trip from her home in Los Angeles to Toronto, where she remembered going to games as a young girl. Asked if Diar will be allowed to make the trip to Miami on Friday, DeRozan put his foot down, saying his daughter had to go back to school.

But with the Bulls advancing, DeRozan admitted he was glad to have allowed her to play hooky on Wednesday.

“I almost said ‘no’ because she’s in school back home, but she kept asking, and she was just adamant about coming to support,” DeRozan said. “I said, ‘Alright, you can miss one day of school and come to a game’ and I’m glad I did. I owe her some money for sure.”