Paris attacks drove Hornets’ Nic Batum ‘to show them ... we’re strong’

Charlotte Hornets guard Nic Batum was sitting at his laptop computer Friday afternoon, taking in a stream of the French national team playing a soccer match.

He heard the explosion. He sensed the danger. And a terrifying thought filled his senses: His sister lives within blocks of one of Friday’s terrorist attacks that killed dozens in Paris.

"It was like a movie or something like that. Too crazy to believe," Batum said Friday night after a Hornets road loss to the Chicago Bulls.

"She was close by. She’s OK. All my family and friends are OK. But I’m sad and I’m praying for all the families who lost someone. So many people dying for this thing by stupid people. I don’t know why they’re doing that."

Frenchman Batum played for his country this past summer in Eurobasket, an Olympic qualifying tournament. He quietly raged Friday over terrorists turning Paris into "a war outside."

So he chose to make a statement with his play Friday. Instead of being distracted by the events at home, he excelled against the Bulls, scoring a season-high 28 points in the 102-97 loss. Batum made 10 of 17 shots from the field and five of six from 3-point range.

"I thought about it all game," Batum said. "I wanted to (have) a good game to show them in my way ‘We’re strong.’ "

Yet he couldn’t simply tune out the tragedy back in France. Batum was on his phone until the last minute before pre-game warmups. At halftime he stared at a television in the hallway outside the Hornets’ locker room. With each new report, the toll grew grimmer.

"Before the game there were only 40 people killed. After the game they say 120," Batum recalled. "But we’re strong, we’re tough and we’re going to be all right. We’re going to stay strong and they won’t get us."

Batum searched out fellow Frenchman Joakim Noah, the Bulls center, to check on his family. They comforted each other briefly pre-game and Batum took solace in not having lost a family member or friend.

But that didn’t diminish his sense of grief and anger.

"I’m fine, but I’m not because we lost people for nothing; stupid people and I don’t know why they are doing that," Batum said.

"We’ve got to stay strong. I tried to show people in my way that we’re strong and we won’t (back) down because you are doing bad stuff to people. We’ll keep our heads up, step forward and say we’re better than that."

I’m just praying for those people who lost someone today. France, we’ll do everything we can to stop things like that."

 

This story was originally published November 14, 2015 at 12:13 AM with the headline "Paris attacks drove Hornets’ Nic Batum ‘to show them ... we’re strong’."