Padgett scored four of his career-high 16 points in the extra session as the Utah Jazz regrouped in time to post a 113-111 triumph over the Chicago Bulls.
Padgett endured a rough final 50 seconds of regulation. He missed badly on a 20-footer from the left corner, committed a thoughtless foul leading to a three-point play that tied the game and was charged with an offensive foul that gave Chicago a chance to win in regulation.
But Chicago's Ron Mercer missed at the buzzer and Padgett made amends quickly in overtime, hitting a 10-footer 21 seconds into overtime. The Jazz, who had been 0-3 in overtime this season and 1-4 in games decided by four points or less, never giving up the lead.
| from Jazz-Bulls: 56k | 300k  Donyell Marshall's 25 points helped sink the Bulls. |
"Scott Padgett has not played a lot but he has played pretty good," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "He has been around long enough to know what we are trying to do."
"My shot went down today," Padgett said. "In warmups I was shooting it with authority and that just carried over into the game. The coaches have been working hard with me to get me step into my shot. That is when I shoot the ball pretty well. I shot pretty well tonight, except the one that I missed."
Mercer scored 29 points for Chicago, which has dropped eight straight to Utah.
After Padgett opened the scoring for Utah in overtime, Donyell Marshall dunked for a 104-100 lead 66 seconds into the period. Fred Hoiberg buried a 17-footer off a feed from Charles Oakley but Karl Malone fed Marshall for a layup with 3:21 to go.
Mercer sank two free throws but Malone had a free throw to give the Jazz a 107-104 edge with 2:49 left. Hoiberg buried another jumper 16 seconds later and had a chance to give Chicago the lead but missed a short hook. Padgett followed with a 16-footer off a pass from Malone for a 109-106 cushion.
Kevin Ollie made two free throws with 57 seconds to go, but John Stockton made three free throws around a key rebound by Padgett to seal the win. A.J. Guyton sank a 3-pointer just before the buzzer to make it a one-possession game for Chicago, but Bryon Russell hit a free throw with five-tenths of a second to go and time expired when he missed the second.
Utah appeared to have the game in hand, leading 100-92 with 2:10 left. But Ron Artest hit a free throw that sparked an 8-0 run to close the quarter. The Bulls even had a chance to win, but Mercer's 19-footer was not close.
"We kind of felt Ron had the advantage and we wanted to go without our best scorer," Bulls coach Bill Cartwright said. "So we got it to his hands and it just didn't fall."
"It was a clear cut to make sure there was no time on the clock," Mercer said. "I waited until three seconds, dribbled hard right and went up. They played really good defense."
Malone had 32 points while Marshall finished with 25 and nine rebounds. Padgett's 16 points were six more than he had in any game this season and three more than his previous career high, set against Washington on March 24, 2001.