Vinny Del Negro just couldn't help himself.

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AP Photo/Jim PrischingJoakim Noah played 27 minutes against the Trail Blazers and paid for it after the game as he was seen limping.

He saw Joakim Noah out on the floor and he became paralyzed with glee. He just couldn't bring himself to take his injured center out of the game when it counted. As he had throughout the season, Noah gave the Bulls the emotional lift the team needed when the game was sliding out of reach. He came in and provided the energy that the team was lacking. He stayed in the game and provide the defensive stopgap which slowed down Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge -- the man who had been killing the Bulls in the post all night.

Noah played 27 minutes on basically one foot.

He scored eight points, grabbed 11 rebounds and helped will the Bulls to a 115-111 overtime victory over the Blazers.

But the cost to keep Noah out on the floor for the win might become one of Del Negro's biggest downfalls when the book is closed on the Bulls 2009-2010 season.

The big 7-footer had a hard time walking in the Bulls' victorious locker room because the plantar fasciitis in his foot ached so badly. Simply putting on a sock looked like it was an agonizing process. He admitted that he wouldn't even be traveling with his teammates to Indianapolis and would miss Saturday night's game.

"I'm not feeling great," he said dejectedly. "My foot is hurting a little bit. But I'm happy we won the game today. I probably won't travel with the team [Friday] night. And just get some more treatment on it. That's it."

Before the game, Del Negro said that he would not play Noah very many minutes. He knew that the center was still getting back in shape. With the game on the line though, he just couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger on a substitution. The irony is that he knew what the consequences were.

"We probably got a little greedy," Del Negro admitted. "But I asked him how he felt and he said he felt good, but I could see he got a little fatigued. His length made a big difference for us against [Marcus] Camby and [LaMarcus] Aldridge. He is sore right now. His injury is going to bother him for a while whether we play him 10 minutes, or 20 minutes. Hopefully, we can manage it the right way and take it day by day with him and his therapy."

The question now becomes how many games will Noah have to miss besides Saturday's? Of course, nobody knows what the answer is for sure, but if Noah's facial expressions after the game were in any indication, it could be a while before he sees the court again.

"I feel like everybody has an opinion about whether I should play or whether I shouldn't play," the frustrated 25-year-old center said. "There's no right or wrong answer. As a player I want to be out there. So it's hard when ... I don't know, I guess it depends on the game. Right now, I don't even know what to say."

Even Noah's teammates admitted that they were a little shocked to see him out there logging so many minutes.

"Yeah," Rose said. "Knowing that he didn't play that many minutes in the previous games. And now he's out there -- I was kind of surprised."

"We're definitely better with Jo," Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich added. "Anytime you have anybody out, you like to have everyone be healthy. Especially Jo, he brings so much energy and passion to our team."

It's not hard to understand why Del Negro left Noah in the game, but you've got to wonder if a veteran coach would have made a different decision. Del Negro might have won the game on Friday night, but what they might have lost is much more significant.

"Plantar fasciitis -- it just hurts," Noah said. “The only thing you can do is rest it. There's not a lot of time left until playoffs, so it's like, ‘What do you do?’ Do you sit and then when you come back, lack conditioning? The first two games [after I came back], I feel like I can't breathe out there. You can emphasize all the biking and all the water cardio things, but for me, the only way I get my cardio back is playing basketball. So, there's that aspect of it too, that we have to take into consideration.

"I don't think there's a right or wrong answer. It's the time of year. Obviously, if it was October or November, I would probably sit out for six weeks, but we don't have six weeks."

No they don't.

But Del Negro's decision on Friday night might have put the decision in jeopardy.