The New Orleans Pelicans played their regular season game against the Miami Heat on Wednesday night in South Florida with heavy hearts as their city reeled from a terrorist attack which left more than a dozen dead.
Pelicans head coach Willie Green was among those from the team to speak out about the attack which took place in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
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Signs for Bourbon Street are displayed on a traffic light at the Kaseya Center as a tribute to the people who died after a vehicle plowed into a crowd in New Orleans before an NBA basketball game between the Miami Heat and the New Orleans Pelicans, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Green said he was “heartbroken” by it. He said he found out what happened in a New Year’s message from his father. The Pelicans play their home games at the Smoothie King Center – about a mile southwest of where the terrorist attack took place.
“A senseless act of violence,” Green said. “We talked about it a little bit with our players. But we just live in times and in a world where you just don’t know where you’re safe.
“Schools, churches, people should be able to go out and have a good time and walk the streets. It’s devastating. And I can only imagine what these families are going through, what they have to deal with now for the rest of their lives.”
Pelicans forward Trey Murphy III said he knew his mother was at the center during New Year’s festivities, as was his chef. He said he feared for their safety, but learned they were fine.
“You feel a slight sigh of relief,” Murphy said. “But there were a lot of people who didn’t hear that sigh of relief today.”
New Orleans Pelicans players stand during a vigil at the Kasey Center for the people who died after a vehicle plowed into a crowd in New Orleans before an NBA basketball game between the Miami Heat and the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Murphy added that it was “a real shame”.
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“People are trying to enjoy themselves and go into the new year with a different mindset, and now there are many families who have to deal with this tragedy,” he said. “And I just pray a lot and think about those families, because it just doesn’t make sense.
“Things like that shouldn’t happen. You shouldn’t have to worry about going to Bourbon Street and enjoying yourself and then having to lose a loved one.”
Former NBA player Antonio Daniels was on the call to broadcast the Pelicans game. He and play-by-play man Joel Meyers expressed their condolences for the attack.
Sugar Bowl fans from the University of Georgia and Notre Dame stop to take photos as New Orleans police and federal agents investigate a possible terrorist attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (Chris Granger/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)
“If you think about what Bourbon Street is, it’s a place of joy. It’s a place of laughter. It’s a place of weddings, bachelorette parties, a place where people come together,” Daniels said. “And like Coach Green said, a senseless act of violence coming to try to tear this city apart? My heart hurts. My heart hurts for this city. It’s sad. It’s sad that this is a dark world we live in today.”
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Miami won game 119-108.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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