(My Sportsbook) - The on-again, off-again Portland Trail Blazers are currently riding their first winning streak of the season.

After beginning the year 3-6, the Blazers have reeled off three straight impressive victories over solid squads: the Los Angeles Clippers, Orlando Magic and Seattle SuperSonics.

The most recent triumph came against their Northwest rival on Thursday, as the Blazers held on for an 89-85 victory over Seattle at KeyArena.

With 5:06 left in the fourth, a three-pointer from Rasheed Wallace sparked a 7-0 run and gave Portland the lead for good at 79-77. Seattle closed within 83-81 on a dunk by Rashard Lewis with 40 seconds to play, but the Blazers were able to hit their free throws down the stretch to salt away the win.

Bonzi Wells scored 16 points and Wallace added 13, but the story of the game was Portland's bench. The Blazers got 34 points from their reserves, with Arvydas Sabonis and Ruben Patterson scoring 10 apiece and Jeff McInnis adding eight.

"This was a back-to-back game that the guys came out and looked like they were in slow motion," said Portland head coach Maurice Cheeks. "We went to the bench and the guys that we went to just came up big. They got into it defensively and they got rebounds. That was an effort by the second team that I have never seen before."

Portland's depth was crucial against a fatigued Seattle squad. Gary Payton, Brent Barry and Lewis were each forced to play 40 minutes and the Blazers outscored the Sonics 49-36 in the second half.

"That second unit had to be the spark plug," said Patterson. "We just came in and turned the whole game around. That's what we need. When things are wrong for the first unit, the second unit has to come off and do the job and that's what we did tonight."

But good times have trouble lasting in Portland. Just hours after the win, Wallace and Damon Stoudamire were cited for marijuana possession after a traffic stop midway between Portland and Seattle, according to police.

The players were passengers in a sport utility vehicle stopped for speeding. An officer smelled marijuana in the car, and then seized less than 40 grams of the drug.

It marks the second time this year Stoudamire has been charged with marijuana possession. He and his father both were charged with felony possession of marijuana in February, but the charges against his father were dropped. In August, a judge ruled the search illegal and rejected a prosecution request to use the marijuana as evidence.

On Thursday, Stoudamire did not play for the second time in three games. The team is 3-0 since Stoudamire was taken out of the starting lineup by Cheeks, who is going with Derek Anderson and Scottie Pippen in the backcourt.

Stoudamire, who had started 312 of his first 316 games with the Blazers, is averaging just 7.0 points and 4.1 assists in 10 games -- nine starts -- this season while shooting just 33 percent from the floor.