Trail Blazers defeat Grizzlies, continuing winning streak The Associated Press VANCOUVER, British Colum bia — Damon Stoudamire would n’t come out and say it, but his Portland Trail Blazers, in the midst of a three-games-in-three nights stretch, got the break they needed against the lowly Vancou ver Grizzlies. “When you play teams like Vancouver, you always have it in the back of your mind that you can turn it on and turn it off when you want to,” said Stoudamire. While admitting that that’s not a good attitude to have, it is the reality in this con densed schedule. Stoudamire turned it on in the third quarter, scoring all 10 of his points as the league-leading Trail Blazers improved to 14-3 and won their seventh straight with Monday night’s 92-73 win over the Grizzlies. Vancouver lost its eighth straight and 11th in 12 out ings. “Even when they got close, you always felt, ‘There’s no need to worry.’ There wasn’t a sense of ur gency, because we could put them any time we wanted to,” Stoudamire added. The Trail Blazers needed the gimme as they entered the night a little banged up. Both Stoudamire (bruised right heel) and center Arvydas Sabonis (slightly sprained right knee) suffered injuries in Sunday’s 111-71 win over the Houston Rockets. After blowing a 14-point first half lead by allowing the Grizzlies within seven at the break, the Trail Blazers put the game away late in the third quarter and early into the fourth. After Vancouver’s Shareef Abdur-Rahim hit two free throws to cut Portland’s lead to 62-53 with 3:45 left in the third, the Blazers went on a 17-5 run to blow the game open. Greg Antho ny capped the run, sinking a 3 point basket with 8:05 left in the game. The turning point came when Stoudamire, with Grizzlies rookie Mike Bibby in his face, hit a 3 pointer to put Portland up 70-56 with 1:16 left in the third. The bucket came on the Blazers’ ensu ing possession after Vancouver's Abdur-Rahim completed a three point play at the other end. The Grizzlies went 5:36, in cluding the first 4:32 of the fourth quarter, without scoring a point until Bryant Reeves sank a 4-foot er. Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy, who got his starters out of the game early in the fourth quarter, wanted them out even earlier. “It should’ve been double-dig its in the first half. But the bottom line is we got a win and we played well enough,” said Dun leavy. Jimmy Jackson came off the bench to score a season-high 21 points, while Brian Grant finished with 14 points and nine re bounds. Grant hasn’t missed a shot in two games. After going 4 for-4 from the field and hitting both free throws on Sunday, Grant finished 5-for-5 from the field and 4-for-4 from the foul line against Vancouver. Abdur-Rahim scored 19 points and had six rebounds for the Griz zlies, who posted a season low for points. As the losses pile up again, Ab dur-Rahim continues to take them personally. “I look at it as kind of like being in a street fight. Sometimes you’re fighting a bigger guy and you have to fight and claw and scratch away, and I don’t feel like we’re always doing that,” said Abdur Rahim. Grizzlies center Bryant Reeves, who finished with five points and five rebounds in 32 minutes, heard the loudest boos of his ca reer at GM Place when he took the court in the third quarter. “You hear them and it’s some thing you have to live with,” said Reeves, who’s been under the mi croscope after reporting to camp almost 40 pounds overweight. “Physically, 1 feel fine.... I have to find my groove.” A sloppy first half in which the teams combined for 25 turnovers (Vancouver had 13) ended with Portland leading 44-37. The Griz zlies trailed by as many as 14 points before getting back into the game by outscoring the Blazers 12-6 over the final 2:42 of the half. The Grizzlies are suddenly plauged by injury problems as guards Lee Mayberry (knee strain), Doug West (sprained foot) and center Tony Massenburg (sprained wrist) did not play. With West out, rookie Felipe Lopez got his first career start for Vancouver, and finished with 12 points and six rebounds.