Tattooed down his right forearm is the phrase “Always Remember.” Trae Young lives by those two words. They mean so much to him that they’re also the first two words that appear on the top of the box of his signature shoes.

So of course Young remembered what happened a week ago in Chicago, when he had arguably the worst game of his season, going 3-of-17 from the floor against the Bulls in a close loss. Young put that loss squarely on himself that night, saying it’s tough for the Hawks to win if he shoots that poorly.

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And one thing about Young is he never forgets what people say about him. After that game against Chicago, Bulls fans were crowning rookie Ayo Dosunmu as the Trae Young stopper. Lots of memes flooded Twitter at the expense of Young. Dosunmu has been a revelation, especially defensively, for the Bulls. But Young wasn’t going to forget what happened last week. He was going to let everyone know in the loudest way possible and send a message that the rookie isn’t in the same league as he is. That’s who Young is at his core.

“I owed (the Bulls) one. No pun intended,” Young said after the Hawks beat the Bulls 130-124 on Thursday night. “Ayo had a great defensive game against us. I felt like there were some shots that I had open (last week) that I could’ve made. Prior to the break, I felt like my legs weren’t there, and I put that loss on me. I owed my team one to get a win.”

With the Hawks up one with just over a minute to play and the ball in Young’s hands with Dosunmu guarding him, the Hawks star stepped back and drilled a 3 in the rookie’s face to make it a two-possession game. As Young paraded back down the floor, he pointed to Dosumnu. If our lip reading is accurate, he said, “He can’t guard me.”

When asked about that moment, Young smiled and left his comment open to interpretation.

“Some people can read lips good. Some people can’t. That’s on you if you read it right,” he said.

TRAE YOUNG

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) March 4, 2022

The final few minutes of this game displayed Young at his absolute best. When he’s making the right reads offensively, he’s about as close to unstoppable as a player can get in the NBA. He’s so dangerous with the ball that defenses are forced to send two guys at him frequently, especially in end-of-game situations. That opens things up for everyone else, as it did for the Hawks.

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On the play below, Young gets the mismatch and pulls Nikola Vucevic away from Clint Capela. Dosunmu comes over and helps. Young sees it immediately, throws the ball over the top and allows Capela to attack the rim.

This next one is just superb playmaking on every single level. Young stops on a dime and fakes the shot, causing Zach LaVine to close out and help Dosunmu. Young twists his body around and looks at De’Andre Hunter, which causes DeMar DeRozan to slide his feet toward Hunter, then fires the no-look pass to a wide-open Bogdan Bogdanovic, who drains a 3.

What Young was doing as the focal point for the Hawks in the closing minutes of the game was nothing short of extraordinary. It was another reminder of his brilliance.

“He’s who he is for a reason,” DeRozan said. “He’s a big-time player, one of the stars in this league. That’s his M.O., is hitting big shots. You try to make everything as tough as possible for him. It was his night. He pulled it off. You’ve got to shake his hand. He led his team. He did what he was supposed to do.”

“A couple of days ago, we just played him and he had 14, so we knew he was going to be very aggressive,” Bulls center Tristan Thompson said. “He’s been averaging 38 points the last two games after. So we knew he was going to be extra aggressive. Like any player, if you have a bad game against a team and you get to go against them four or five days later, you’re going to be aggressive. He does a great job, kind of how Steph (Curry) is, lulling you to sleep and dancing with the ball, putting it between his legs to create that one second of separation.”

Young finished with 39 points and 13 assists on 11-of-18 shooting (7-of-9 from 3). The Hawks are now 30-32, and this win was an important one for them because Toronto and Brooklyn, the seventh- and eighth-place teams in the East, lost. Atlanta is now just one game out of the eighth spot with 20 games to go. If Atlanta can finish seventh or eighth (making the top six is almost impossible at this point), it would have to win only one Play-In Tournament game to clinch the seventh seed and would have some breathing room if it were to lose that game, as the loser of the 7-8 matchup would play the winner of the 9-10 game for the eighth seed.

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Before the game Thursday, there was some doubt about whether Young would be available. He did not participate in the team’s shootaround in the morning, as he spent that time treating his ankle. He then did only about half of his normal pregame routine on the court. Coach Nate McMillan said it wasn’t until around 40 to 50 minutes before the game that the training staff said Young would be cleared to play.

Put it on ICE

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) March 4, 2022

Young said he was thinking during his drive to the arena that he might not play because of the Hawks’ back-to-back with Washington on Friday, and he didn’t want to risk injuring his ankle even more. To limit the risk of aggravating the injury, Young had his left ankle heavily taped underneath his ankle braces. Young always wears ankle braces but never tapes his ankles, too. He said the tape made his ankle feel “numb,” especially when he cut laterally.

One thing Young prides himself on is playing through injuries. He hates missing games so much that he would purposely hide his pain from the Hawks’ medical staff early in his career.

“I had a couple of injuries where I used to never tell the staff,” Young said. “There would be times where I would feel pain and I wouldn’t say anything because I know they’re very cautious with guys getting injured. I’ve grown up playing against older guys. When I get knocked down, my dad would always be like get up and be strong. I’ve always had that mindset. Being small, maybe that’s the mindset I have. I feel like I can play through pain. Maybe it’s a good or bad thing that I have that mindset.”

A concern some scouts had about Young before he entered the NBA was how he would hold up at his size. In his first season, he played in 81 of 82 games. The only game he sat out was the second-to-last game as the Hawks were desperately trying to improve their lottery positioning. Young was unhappy with sitting as he wanted to show everyone that his availability — if he had full control over it — was not going to be a conversation topic. And it hasn’t been.

Even when Young isn’t 100 percent healthy, he’s still sensational. There’s no doubt that Young has raised his game this season and entered a new tier of stardom. If the Hawks are to go on a deep postseason run, it will be because of Young.

“That talent is special,” Bogdanovic said. “That’s why he’s one of the best point guards in the league, for sure. This year, he’s showed he’s on another level. It’s so easy to be next to him.”

(Photo of Trae Young driving past Ayo Dosunmu: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)