The Screaming At The Toronto Raptors Game Was DeMar DeRozan's Daughter & Clearly, It Worked
It was a sound that was impossible to ignore during the Toronto Raptors play-in game against the Chicago Bulls Thursday night — the loud, high-pitched scream of a child. And it happened over and over again.
The screaming was loud enough to leave not just everyone at Scotiabank Arena wondering if something was wrong, but had people watching at home puzzled too. And it turned out it was former Toronto Raptor DeMar DeRozan's daughter.
Nine-year-old Diar DeRozan went viral on Thursday night. Not only because of just how hard it was for people to ignore her screams but because it seemed that they really worked.
"That is the daughter of DeMar DeRozan," an ESPN announcer said live on broadcast, once the mystery was solved. "And here's the voice you're hearing when [the] Raptors shoot. She's screaming."
In a now-viral video posted to Twitter, you can see Diar scream as Fred VanVleet makes a free throw attempt.
\u201cDeMar's daughter is screaming whenever the Raptors take free throws \ud83d\ude02\u201d— ESPN (@ESPN) 1681347723
The announcers listened in and exploded with laughter.
"That time it didn't work," they laughed, as VanVleet made the shot. "Hey, it's the thought that counts, trying to help Daddy out."
And help, she did. Diar now has an entire two-minute-long highlight reel video posted to the Chicago Bulls Youtube page showing every time she screamed as the Toronto Raptors made free-throw attempts.
For a grand total of 36 screams, the Raptors miserably missed 18 free throws on their way to a season-ending loss in come-from-behind fashion.
\u201cDeMVP of the night! \ud83d\udde3\ud83d\udde3\ud83d\udde3\u201d— Chicago Bulls (@Chicago Bulls) 1681353055
So with his daughter having gone viral and being called the MVP and player of the game, of course, DeMar had to be asked about it.
"I haven't let it soak in yet," DeRozan said with a smile while shaking his head in disbelief. "I kept hearing something during the game and it was one free throw somebody missed and I looked back and I was like, 'damn, that's my daughter screaming?' Was just making sure she was alright though."
DeMar later admitted just how badly Diar wanted to come to Toronto for Thursday's play-in game.
"My daughter called me the other day when she was getting out of school," he said, explaining that she had asked to come to the Toronto game and it gave him flashbacks to her coming to all the games back when he was a member of the team.
"I almost said no because she's in school back home. She kept asking, she was just adamant about coming to support. And I just said 'alright, you can miss one day of school and, you know, come to a game' and I'm glad I did. I owe her some money for sure," he joked.
When asked whether his daughter might tag along for his team's next game against the Miami Heat on Friday, Daddy DeRozan has a much more stern reaction.
"Uh... No. She's gotta go back to school."
