Should The Lakers Take A Page Out Of The Bulls' Play-In Playbook On Sunday?

A very bizarre "strategy" proved incredibly effective last night.

We're not sure if you Los Angeles Lakers fans have been paying much attention to any other NBA play-in games since LA clinched its first and only play-in contest Tuesday against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

But last night, the Chicago Bulls took, let's say, an unorthodox approach to defending the Toronto Raptors at the foul line, en route to a furious 19-point second half comeback. The Bulls upset the Raptors on the road, just barely, 109-105, and now advance to their second play-in game, set for Friday against the Miami Heat. The winner of tomorrow's contest will no doubt get massacred by the mighty Milwaukee Bucks in a 1-8 first round playoff matchup.

Bulls All-Star DeMar DeRozan's daughter, Diar, who spent her first few years on this planet in Toronto during DDR's halcyon Raptors days, proved to be an unstoppable force beyond the 94-foot confines of the hardwood, by screeching at the top of her lungs during the most inopportune moments possible for Toronto players: each of their 36 free throw attempts.

The Raptors are normally a 78.4% free throw shooting team, which last night would have translated into 28 made foul shots. Instead, they made just 18, thanks in no small part to this:

What a hero. 

Granted, her dad notched 23 points on 10-of-19 shooting from the floor and 3-of-5 from the free throw line while being hounded all night by OG Anunoby and/or double-team coverages, and her uncle Zach LaVine made a whopping 39 points (30 in the second half!) on 12-of-22 shooting from the floor and 13-of-15 shooting from the charity stripe. And the Bulls' best defenders, forward Patrick Williams and ex-Lakers Alex Caruso and Patrick Beverley, hounded Toronto's perimeter players despite obvious size disadvantages.

But Diar was the real MVP.

Here's our pitch for LA. Many Lakers have kids. LeBron James has a daughter who's got to be around Diar's age, plus two older high school-age sons who may deem themselves "too cool" for this assignment. Anthony Davis and Dennis Schröder each have three younger kids. We all know about Tristan Thompson's baby mama drama. It's time to draft some of these junior Lakers into this newly-discovered free throw defensive strategy against the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Bulls had been playing downright poorly for that game's first two-and-a-half quarters against a longer, younger, more athletic Raptors team in Toronto, until Zach LaVine remembered he was Zach LaVine and had the night of his life. Diar DeRozan almost singlehandedly helped cull Toronto's output late, after the team's shooting from the floor slowed down.

Memphis is a 73.3% free throw shooting team on 23.8 attempts a night. If LA can shrink that charity stripe percentage to 50% with this bold new child-screaming strategy, that could mean the difference between victory and failure for any given game. Los Angeles of course paces the league in free throws attempted, at 26.6. Tipoff for the first game of this impending Lakers-Grizzlies series is scheduled for noon PT on Sunday.

Let's get it done, Lakers. Make your kids scream at the Grizzlies whenever they shoot free throws throughout their first round playoff series. 

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