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It was with mixed emotions and heavy hearts, flashbacks to the United States’ own horror of the September 11 attacks, that invaded the United Center Friday with the terrorist murders in Paris Friday night.

Bulls center Joakim Noah lived part of his youth in France as his father is Yannick Noah, the French former tennis star and current entertainer.

“Really sad what is going on in Paris,” Noah said after the Bulls victory over the Charlotte Hornets “A lot of people died for no reason. I’m not really sure what happened; calling family before the game, making sure they are all right.”

Noah said they were and said his father was out of the country.

Pau Gasol, a native of Spain, said, “It was very sad what happened in Paris. Obviously you try to focus and do what you have to do. But at the same time your mind is there, your heart is there and you know a lot of people are suffering and a lot of people died; it’s devastating news. Hopefully at some point these kinds of attacks…it’s not human, not fair.”

The Bulls had a moment of silence before the game.

Before the game, Hornets player Nicholas Batum, who is French, said he met with Noah to find out if his family was safe.

“First thing I did was text my sister, text my mom, text my friends,” said Batum. “I was able to reach everybody. I got so many texts from people asking, ‘Is your family all right?’ I saw Noah and the first time I see him on the court I asked, ‘Is your family OK?’ And he asked, ‘Is your family OK?’ We’re fine and he’s fine, too.

“Until the last minute before the game I was on my phone checking out everybody in my family,” said Batum, who had an extraordinary game with 28 points and five of six three pointers. “My sister lives close by where one of the attacks happened. The first thing I did (after the game) was check my phone to make sure everything was good. I thought about it all game. I wanted to (have) a good game to show them in my way ‘We’re strong.’

“Everybody’s OK from my girlfriend’s side, too,” said Batum. “People are crying because they lost someone for nothing. People are watching a soccer game or at a concert or having dinner! They told me Paris is like a war outside. The army is outside. It’s difficult because I watched the numbers. Before the game there were only 40 people killed. After the game they say 120. 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.

“I couldn’t believe it. It was like a movie or something like that. Too crazy to believe,” said Batum. “Such a tough day. I’m sad and I’m praying for all the families who lost someone. I’m just praying for those people who lost someone today. That’s a terrible thing to happen to us. In January, it happened (Charlie Hebdo attack) and 10 months later it happened again. Stupid people and I don’t know why they are doing that. 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.”