“She just told me to play my heart out,” Young told ESPN. “He’s always going to be watching over me, pulling for me. Just to go out there and play for him, play my heart out, and that’s what I did tonight.”

Young took to the court wearing a No. 8 jersey honoring Kobe to begin the game. After Atlanta won the tip, he stood with the ball in the backcourt and took an eight-second violation, much like many other teams and players did to honor Bryant around the league on Sunday.

As for the game itself, Young put on a show.

The 21-year-old already had a double-double by halftime with 21 points and 10 assists and even hit a halfcourt buzzer-beater to close out the opening half. He wasn’t done there, though, he went on to finish the game with 45 points, 14 assists and six rebounds in Atlanta’s 152-133 win over Washington.

While that’s a rather normal stat line for Young, the way he put up those numbers actually had ties to Bryant. Young became the first player to record a 45-point double-double with under 25 field goal attempts against Washington since Kobe did it in December of 2006.

Trae’s right, you can’t make this stuff up.