Television cameras showed Noah appearing to say "faggot" after sitting down on the bench early in the opening quarter of Miami's 96-85 triumph, which gave the Heat a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference best-of-seven final.
"I apologise," Noah said.
"The fan said something to me that I thought was disrespectful and I got caught up in the moment and I said some things that I shouldn't have said.
"I was frustrated and I don't mean no disrespect to anybody. I just got caught up."
The fine imposed by the NBA was half the amount handed to Los Angeles Lakers playmaker Kobe Bryant last month by the league for saying the same thing to referee Ben Adams during a game.
A league spokesman said the higher amount of Bryant's fine came because he was verbally abusive to an NBA game official.
Noah met with NBA officials before he was fined for his remark to the taunting Heat supporter.
"I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings," he said.
"Anybody who knows me knows that I'm not like that. I'm an open-minded guy.
"I said the wrong thing and I'm going to pay the consequences - deal with the consequences - like a man.
"I don't want to be a distraction to the team right now."
Noah also said he would learn from his mistakes and his frustration did not excuse his remark.
"I'll remember," Noah said.
"I'll remember it for a long time."
Bulls forward Luol Deng of Great Britain supported Noah, saying the fan made his own disrespectful comments to the Bulls' bench.
"It wasn't just one time or two times," Deng said.
"He just kept going and it became really annoying. (Noah) just lost his temper."
NBA commissioner David Stern said last month that "such a distasteful term should never be tolerated" and added "insensitive or derogatory comments are not acceptable and have no place in our game or society".
-AFP
Tags: sport, basketball, united-states
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