Ball Durham
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Gary Trent Jr. catches absolute fire from downtown against Houston

By Kevin Connelly

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JULY 06: Gary Trent Jr. #2 of the Portland Trail Blazers brings the ball up the court against the Detroit Pistons during the 2019 NBA Summer League at the Thomas & Mack Center on July 6, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Pistons defeated the Trail Blazers 93-73. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JULY 06: Gary Trent Jr. #2 of the Portland Trail Blazers brings the ball up the court against the Detroit Pistons during the 2019 NBA Summer League at the Thomas & Mack Center on July 6, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Pistons defeated the Trail Blazers 93-73. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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The former lethal sharpshooter of the Duke Basketball program, Gary Trent Jr., caught fire in Vegas and didn’t look back en route to a near perfect performance.

Shooters shoot, and boy is Gary Trent Jr. a shooter.

The former Duke Blue Devil struggled to get his shots to fall in the Portland Trail Blazers opening Summer League game but that changed quickly in the second game where Trent Jr. went off.

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A near perfect performance from the Summer League veteran was punctuated with 31 points on 10-of-12 shooting from the field and 7-of-8 from 3-point range, in addition to making all four of his free throws.

While the scoring numbers were wildly impressive from the rising NBA sophomore, he also was able to post six rebounds, five assists, and two steals on the night in just 25 minutes of action.

The 31 points Gary Trent Jr. posted were clearly a team high, but he also had a +/- rating of +12, which was tied as the highest on the team in Portland’s 97-87 win over the Houston Rockets on Sunday nigh.

While at Duke, Trent Jr. never made seven 3-pointers in a game, as his college high was six, which he did five times in the 2017-18 season with his career high in points being 30 in a win over the Miami Hurricanes.

In the G-League, the second round pick of the Sacramento Kings in the 2018 NBA Draft has a career high of 39 points and in five of his six games he has scored at least 33 points.

Gary Trent Jr.’s teammate at Duke, Trevon Duval, also played in the game for the Houston Rockets and he was able to come off the bench and score a basket for Houston in just four minutes of time.

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It will be interesting to see if the Trail Blazers continue to play Gary Trent Jr. in the Summer League after Sunday’s performance. Portland is back in action on Tuesday, July 9, against the Utah Jazz at 6:00pm EST, which will be televised on ESPN2.

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