Scott Padgett and John Amaechi?
 
The unlikeliest of catalysts in an unlikely comeback.
 
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan?
 
Maybe there is something to his seasonlong insistence that every player must contribute for the Jazz to be a playoff-caliber team.
 
Padgett and Amaechi helped the Jazz overcome a 23-4 deficit and defeat the Trail Blazers 99-87 in Portland on Thursday.
 
Neither Padgett nor Amaechi had left the bench in the previous three games, but both were prime-time players for the Jazz, who play Philadelphia tonight at the Delta Center (7 p.m., KJZZ).
 
Padgett finished with eight points and five rebounds as the Jazz (15-15) reached .500 for the first time this season.
 
Amaechi finished with a rebound, an assist and a steal in six minutes. That's hardly overwhelming, but he came through with Karl Malone and Greg Ostertag on the bench in foul trouble and the Jazz leading by one point midway through the third quarter.