MIAMI -- Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng said center Joakim Noah has to do a better job of controlling his emotions, but Deng understood why Noah got upset at a fan during Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Miami Heat.

Noah was fined $50,000 for the anti-gay slur he directed -- and was captured by TNT cameras -- at the fan on Sunday.

"But at the same time, there's times where a fan like that, honestly I feel like jumping in the crowd and hitting him," Deng said. "We're humans, and the camera is not on that fan at all.

"I know Jo apologized and everything, but people got to see it the other way, too. Everyone says things they don't mean, and he let the emotion get the better of him. But honestly, with a game like that, hearing that fan, I wanted to do something about it, too. Unfortunately for Jo, he's got to pay the price."

The NBA talked Monday with Noah, who again apologized. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or GLAAD, said it talked to the NBA and the Bulls "to discuss next steps."

It was not what the Bulls wanted to focus on as they try to even the series on Tuesday.

"That's what's disappointing about the whole thing," Noah said. "I don't want to be a distraction to the whole team.

"I apologized for what I said. What I said wasn't right. I don't want to disrespect anybody. That's not what I'm about. I just got caught up in something a fan said and went back at him, and I'm going to face the consequences like a man."

As much as Noah didn't want his remark to become a distraction to his teammates, it was clear that it became one. Many players were peppered with questions, although all came to their center's defense.

"[Noah's] got to do a better job of controlling his emotions," Deng said. "But at the same time, us as players, everyone is always watching us.

"And Jo kind of lost his temper, he shouldn't have, but that fan should have been out of the game. He should have been thrown out way before. He just kept going at him and we're in an emotional game like that, and things aren't going Jo's way, it's just human nature to just react. I know Jo and I know he didn't mean what he said at all."