Youngsters Scott Padgett and Jarron Collins had career highs and the Jazz stormed back from an early deficit for a 98-84 victory over the Phoenix Suns, who suffered their fourth straight loss.
Karl Malone scored 17 points and John Stockton handed out eight assists for the Jazz. Both among the NBA's 50 Greatest Players, the 38-year-old Malone and 39-year-old Stockton have led Utah to 18 straight playoff appearances.
 Scott Padgett finds resistance against the Suns. Kent Horner NBAE/Getty Images |
"We have a lot of young guys on this team who are really contributing," Collins said. "They have a lot of pride in this organization and the young guys are really starting to understand what that pride is all about."
Padgett scored 17 points as he established a career high for the second straight game. On Saturday, Padgett scored 16 points and had a handful of clutch baskets in an overtime win at Chicago.
"I thought Scott Padgett did a terrific job," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "It was hard to take him off the floor. I thought he deserved to play a bit more. And he certainly will get more opportunities the way he's been playing the last couple of games."
Collins, who has assumed the starting center position almost by default, scored 13 points. He is splitting time in the middle with long-time Jazz Greg Ostertag.
"It feels good to come so far," Collins said. "At the beginning of the season, I was on the bubble, barely making the team, and tonight I get my career high as a starter."
Utah trailed by 12 points after one quarter but took control with surges of 15-0 and 12-0 in the second period, fueled by Padgett and the rest of the bench, which has earned a nickname from Bryon Russell.
"B-Russ started calling the second unit `The Enforcers,' just making up silly names, but we are having a lot of fun when we are out there," Padgett said. "When one of the guys makes a big play, it excites people and it also excites us."
"I thought our starters didn't want to play tonight, so we went to the bench and they were ready to play," Sloan said. "That's all I ask on any given night, is just come out and play. If you play and show some energy, you're going to win games."
Russell scored 11 points and John Crotty and Donyell Marshall had 10 apiece for the Jazz, whose bench outscored Phoenix's reserves, 49-24. Utah won rather easily, even though Malone made just 6-of-18 shots and Stockton scored only five points.
"He got some of his starters out and put his bench in there and those guys responded and played very well," Suns coach Scott Skiles said. "We never did get any sort of rhythm after that."
Shawn Marion and Rodney Rogers each scored 17 points and Stephon Marbury added 16 for the Suns, who shot 38 percent (32-of-84) and were beaten on the boards, 50-34.
Phoenix was outscored, 33-9, in the second period. A 30-18 lead quickly became a 33-30 deficit as Padgett and Crotty scored five points apiece.
Two free throws by Marbury pulled the Suns into a 36-36 tie with 4:20 left before Padgett made two free throws, a layup and a 3-pointer to help the Jazz build the lead to 49-36 in the final minute.
"Whenever I do something good, one of the guys is always coming over and giving me a chest bump or something, and I think it's just kind of blowing over to all of us," Padgett said.
"He's playing with a lot of confidence, he's shooting the ball with a lot of confidence and he's executing our offense," Sloan added. "He knows where he's supposed to go."
The Jazz widened the lead to 17 points in the third quarter, but the Suns closed to 75-67 early in the final period. Malone had the first five points of a 9-0 run that gave Utah an 84-67 lead with just over eight minutes to go.