Who was ultimately the most decisive in Chicago’s unexpected victory on Wednesday night in Toronto (105-109), between Bulls star DeMar DeRozan and… his daughter Diar? And yes, we recognize the guaranteed Kamoulox grip 20 minutes. But the answer is perhaps not so obvious, given the course of this decisive play-in match, with a view to snatching a qualifying place in the play-offs. We set the scene for you: ninth in the regular season: the Raptors had the immense advantage of playing this barrage against the Bulls (10th) at home, in their Scotiabank Arena. One of the biggest NBA halls, with 19,800 Canadian fans considered among the loudest in the entire League.
Well, not quite 19,800 Raptors fans, because just behind one of the baskets was Diar DeRozan (10), alongside his mother. Very quickly, American television noticed that shrill cries, worthy of a heroine of a good old American horror girl, were repeated during the free throws fired by the Raptors, and that they all came from her. Logic: she was the only one who wanted to disturb the concentration of Pascal Siakam’s partners.
“I understood that it was my daughter”
Responsible for the reference French Twitter account devoted to the Bulls, Bertrand Landry (35) feasted in the middle of the night thanks to the Diar show: “She is often at our home games, he explains. We see her trying to disturb our opponents and having fun imitating her father’s routine before each of her throws, it’s really funny. But there, it was phew as we only heard her on the American broadcast. »
On the floor, his star dad, this time quite erased compared to his teammate Zach LaVine (23 points against 39), also made this observation. “At one point, after a failed Raptors throw, I heard a scream,” DeMar DeRozan told a press conference. I turned around and realized that it was my daughter who was screaming like that. “ A priori, the disruptive effect was total since Toronto signed an infamous 18/36 on the throwing line, one of the worst stats in the history of the final stages in the NBA.
Miami next victim of Diar?
So even in the second half, when Diar found herself on the wrong side of the court trying to play her best treble score, she was able to help crack the Raptors in the drill, including the star Cameroonian Pascal Siakam (32 points but 5/11 in throws) in the money time. “It was enormous, the television filmed it more than the fight on the rebound on the ground, confides Bertrand Landry. She was obviously close to the microphones, but frankly, she was able to play a real role on the opposing throws. It wasn’t just storytelling American style. The more the match progressed, the more I was serene when we suffered throws thanks to her. »
Led by 19 points in the third quarter (66-47), the Bulls signed a formidable comeback at the end of the game to eliminate the dumbfounded Raptors (105-109). Canadian supporters, for whom the NBA season is already over, have not finished cursing the 18 shots left on the way by their team, and now find little Diar DeRozan less cute. And if his screams were already haunting the nights of the Miami Heat players, who will cross his path on Friday during the last qualifying match for the play-offs?