CHICAGO — Many are considering the daughter of a Chicago Bulls’ All-Star to be one of the unsung heroes of the team’s play-in tournament win in Toronto on Wednesday night.
Now one Chicago-based company wants Diar DeRozan to continue to bring some support – and maybe a little noise during free throws – to the team’s next play-in game in Miami on Friday.
United Airlines replied to a tweet by the Bulls on Thursday offering to pay for the travel to South Florida for Diar to watch her father, DeMar, take on the Heat for the right to earn the eighth seed in the NBA Playoffs.
“We need Diar in Miami! The flight’s on us,” said the tweet from the airline’s official account.
At Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday, as the tenth-seeded Bulls faced the ninth-seeded Raptors in an elimination play-in contest, Diar was caught a number of times by broadcast cameras & microphones screaming as Toronto players took free throws.
Perhaps the shrieks worked because the Raptors were a woeful 18-of-36 from the free throw line. That opened the door for the Bulls to rally from 19 points down in the second half to beat Toronto 109-105 to keep their season alive.
Naturally, social media and a number of talk shows have featured Diar’s screams on he she could have had an impact on the Raptors’ terrible shooting from the line.
Now according to DeMar, as of Wednesday, Diar had other plans for Friday, and going to Miami wasn’t in the cards.
“No,” said DeRozan after the game “She’s got to go back to school.”
One company in Chicago is hoping to change his mind.