The Portland Trail Blazers were down starters Shaedon Sharpe and Deandre Ayton against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night.

It hardly mattered, as the Blazers walloped the Kings 130-113 behind the bench unit's stellar play.

Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups opted to give Moses Brown the start in Ayton's place, pointing to the team being outrebounded in recent games. Brown stepped up with 11 rebounds in 14 minutes, but it was backup center Duop Reath that stole the show.

Reath poured in a career-high 25 points to go along with nine rebounds, as he let it fly from all over the court. Reath finished 9-15 from the floor, including 3-6 from behind the 3-point line.

After the game, coach Chauncey Billups said that he has told Reath he needs to be aggressive in looking for his shot off the Blazers' bench.

“I've been on him about needing to rebound and being better defensively. Also telling him, ‘If you're not shooting when you're out there, I don't know what advantage you give us. You've got to see what you got. You've got the opportunity; you've got to shoot it.' So, he took full advantage of it.”

While Reath is happy to fill any role the Blazers need, he understood Billups' challenge.

Said Reath, “Just understanding my role. Understanding what I'm good at, what I'm not good at. I think that shooting the ball is something that I can do, so he just encourages me to do what I know I can do.”

After the game, Reath received the first game ball of his career after becoming just the third Blazers rookie to record 25-plus points and nine-plus rebounds off the bench since 1975, joining Arvydas Sabonis and Bill Walton.

While it's not reasonable to expect 25 points a night from Reath, seeing this level of confidence from the 27-year-old rookie is a promising sign of things to come. The Blazers have a solid bench, but the offense can stagnate from time-to-time while the reserves are in. If Reath is able to pose a continued threat from the outside while pulling the opponent's big man out of the paint, that unlocks a whole new dimension of the Blazers offense.

Up next for the Blazers: A home-and-home against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday and Friday.