Bulls center Joakim Noah looked good in his return to the court on Saturday night, but coach Vinny Del Negro is focused on easing him back properly.

Noah missed three weeks with plantar fasciitis of the left foot and recorded seven points and four rebounds in just 9:22 of playing time.

"My foot felt great; my lungs felt terrible," Noah said. "I was a little rusty, but it felt great to be on the court."

Chicago plans to limit Noah to about 10 minutes of action for now.

"There's a process in place from Dr. [Brian] Cole and Fred [Tedeschi, the team's trainer]," Del Negro said. "You just can't throw him out there and think all of a sudden his foot is gonna feel great.

"So we'll try to build it up and be smart about it. He wants to be out there more, but let's just see how he reacts. We're gonna control that situation a little bit until he feels better when we extend his minutes."