Duncan’s eyes were wide and his cheeks were puffed, every muscle in his body tensed as he drove McDyess back, grinding his way under the basket.
Once he was close to the rim, he took a step and, with no hesitation or feint, pulled up for the shot.
McDyess leaped to contest, and beads of sweat flew through the air from their intense mid-air collision.
But it was no use; the ball still dropped cleanly through the hoop.
"Fack!"
McDyess couldn’t help but curse as he landed.
In the top-level suite, Chen Yu couldn’t help but marvel internally.
’He’s just too tough, too dominant!’
He glanced at the score: 97 to 96. The Suns were only up by one.
The pace in the first half was fast on both ends of the court, taking a significant toll on the players.
But after halftime, not only did the Spurs not let up, they actually ramped up their defensive intensity.
The score told the whole story.
The first half ended 58 to 53. But now, with only 1:06 left to play, neither team had even broken the 100-point mark.
That meant the Suns had scored less than 40 points in the entire second half—an average of under 20 per quarter.
That just showed how high the defensive intensity was.
It was an all-out physical brawl. Mutombo had already fouled out, and now Duncan was saddled with five fouls himself.
And in the final moments, Duncan was single-handedly keeping the Spurs in the game.
After erupting for 23 points in the first half, he had scored another 21 in the second.
He already had 40-plus points.
With a performance like this, he was clearly making a run for his third consecutive MVP award.
The Suns had the ball.
Bowen stuck to Marion like glue.
It was a perfect microcosm of the second half.
The entire Spurs team was defending as if their lives depended on it.
Chen Yu couldn’t help but think, ’It’s just a regular season game! And you guys are in the middle of a road trip. You have to play in the high altitude of Denver in two days. Playing this hard, even at the very start of the season... aren’t you worried about completely draining your players?’
It was Hardaway again. He drove past Parker, and with Duncan coming over to help, he contorted his body in mid-air and sank an impossibly difficult floater.
Duncan gritted his teeth. Usually stoic, his face was now a mask of pain.
Playing this hard was taking an immense physical toll.
Popovich didn’t hesitate to use his final short timeout to let his players catch their breath.
In the box, even Granic couldn’t help but applaud, remarking on what a fantastic game it was.
No wonder last year’s Western Conference Finals had slightly higher ratings than the NBA Finals. The Suns and the Spurs were truly putting on a display of the highest level of offense and defense.
Chen Yu felt a pang of nervousness.
’It’s the season opener, the ring ceremony game... if they lose, it would be such a shame.’
As he watched the game unfold, Chen Yu also felt that there were some problems with Skiles’s strategy.
He wasn’t capitalizing on the advantages of the Suns’ roster.
The Suns’ strength wasn’t just their starting lineup; their bench was one of the best in the league.
Who else had a Ma Long and a Payton coming off the bench?
In the first half, the Suns used their normal rotations, the bench performed well, and the team put up a high-scoring 58 points.
But in the second half, faced with the Spurs’ heightened intensity, Skiles seemed afraid to use his bench as he did before. He played his starters for too long, which led to O’Neal running out of gas by the end of the game. He was clearly gassed.
That’s what allowed Duncan to score repeatedly in the final moments and keep the score tight.
’Just stick to the normal rotation,’ Chen Yu thought. ’The Suns’ bench is so deep, you could practically use them as starters.’
And then there was O’Neal. At the end of last season, he had slimmed down to 350 pounds. But after one offseason, he stepped on the scale for the new season and weighed in at a solid 360.
Despite this, he swore up and down that he hadn’t slacked off on his summer workouts.
Chen Yu didn’t have the heart to call him out.
It wasn’t just him, though. Even Hardaway had put on a few pounds over the offseason.
After winning back-to-back championships, Chen Yu could sense that the veteran players were growing a bit complacent.
It was only human nature, he supposed.
You always want what you can’t have. Once you finally get it, how many people truly cherish it?
Fortunately, the Suns still won.
It wasn’t luck; it was pure skill.
The Suns got a stop on the Spurs’ crucial final possession.
Then, Old Miller hit a crucial mid-range jumper to help the Suns win the game.
The game ended.
"Chen," Stern said, getting up and smiling at Chen Yu. "Don’t forget our conversation. Give it some thought."
Chen Yu nodded and, along with Old Kolangelo, saw Stern out.
The Suns started the season with a win, securing their first victory.
Duncan’s monstrous stat line of 44 points, 15 rebounds, 9 assists, and 5 blocks was all for naught.
Meanwhile, far away in Los Angeles, the Lakers, playing at home against the Mavericks, lost by eight points.
If it weren’t for Yao Ming’s 24 points and 13 rebounds, the Lakers would have lost by an even wider margin.
Kobe choked.
He shot just 6-for-24 from the field, scoring only 15 points.
The whole Staples Center echoed with the sound of Kobe’s shots clanging off the rim.
When Chen Yu arrived at his clinic the next day, he saw media reports speculating whether Kobe had re-aggravated an old injury.
During a preseason game against the Warriors, he had fallen on a layup and landed on his previously injured right shoulder.
Chen Yu didn’t take such baseless speculation seriously.
The Warriors game was ten days ago. Besides, if the injury had really flared up, Jackson would have contacted him already.
As for why Kobe was missing so badly, Chen Yu had a theory.
Bulking up!
Kobe had begun a systematic program to gain weight.
And after so much physical training to bulk up and add muscle, it was bound to affect his shooting touch.
It was a very real possibility.
For a top-tier professional athlete like Kobe, even the slightest physical change could have a massive impact, requiring a period of readjustment.
Professional athletes were just that incredible.
Chen Yu recalled a conversation he had with Schumacher in Hawaii over the summer about the training of F1 drivers.
Schumacher had given him an example. He said that if the team marked a spot on the track and told him that hitting it with his tire during a turn would improve his lap time by 0.01 seconds, he could then hit that exact spot on every single lap for the entire race.
Chen Yu had been curious, so Schumacher took his own sports car and gave him a demonstration right then and there.
He drew a white dot the size of an egg on the ground. Ten times in a row, at speeds over 90 mph, he precisely ran over one half of the dot, with the tire tracks nearly overlapping.
Then you think about Bolt at a full sprint, how the margin of error in his stride length is less than two inches, each step as if measured with a ruler. It just goes to show how freakishly precise these top athletes’ control over their bodies is.
After quickly handling some paperwork and answering a pile of emails, Chen Yu rushed over to the rehabilitation center.
The rehabilitation center was open twenty-four hours a day. When Chen Yu arrived, Wade was already drenched in sweat, running on the Anti-gravity Treadmill.
Not far from him, TJ Ford was doing weighted crunches, holding a barbell plate.
He’d had surgery, and Chen Yu had instructed him to strengthen his core, back, and neck muscles. This would help protect his spine and reduce the risk of injury from accidental falls.
Jay Williams’s recovery was progressing more slowly, as his injuries were more severe.
Both of them were projected to make their return in December.
It wasn’t just the two of them at the center. Every day, Chen Yu had to adjust the rehabilitation plans for all his patients according to their current physical condition.
A specialist would be there to supervise them. Once he had finished his work, Chen Yu hurried away.
He returned to the medical center and had just started his rounds when a nurse told him the Spurs had arrived.
At first, Chen Yu didn’t quite process what "the Spurs have arrived" meant.
He went to the main entrance and saw that the nurse hadn’t been exaggerating.
Popovich was leading Duncan and the others, a whole crowd of them, heading right for the entrance.
"Greg, what is all this?" Chen Yu asked, completely bewildered.
’It’s only just past eight in the morning. Last night’s game ended late, so forget being up this early... aren’t you guys supposed to be catching a flight to Denver today? Why is the entire team at my clinic?’
Popovich smiled and pointed at Duncan and the others. "Chen, Tim and the guys are exhausted after last night’s game. Since we’re in Phoenix anyway, I figured we’d send them over for your physical therapy and massage to help them recover and prevent any potential issues."
Chen Yu was stunned. His mind went blank for a second.
Staring at the grinning Popovich, a single thought popped into Chen Yu’s head: ’Is this even allowed?’
’No wonder he ran his starters into the ground yesterday. He was planning on using me as the Spurs’ de facto team doctor all along!’
"Greg, does this mean you’ll be back next time you’re in Phoenix for an away game?" Chen Yu asked, speechless.
The Suns and Spurs were scheduled to play three times this season, which meant the Spurs had one more trip to Phoenix.
Popovich let out a chuckle, which was as good as a confirmation. Then he added, "And not just for away games. We’ve discussed it, and we’ve decided to schedule them to fly over once a month, during a light part of the schedule, for your check-ups and physical maintenance."
"Chen, I wanted to hire you as our team doctor in San Antonio, but you refused. This was the only other way."
"Besides, you’ve left the Suns and started your own consulting firm to provide medical advisory services. This fits perfectly. As for the fees, we can just settle up at the end of the season."
To keep his players as healthy as possible, a monthly visit was well worth the cost. Forget the price of plane tickets; even if it cost millions, it would still be worth it.
Chen Yu was left completely dumbfounded.
’What a Zhuge Weiqi!’
’For over two seasons, no one else thought of this loophole, but you found it.’
’You’re exploiting a bug in the system!’
But just as Popovich said, he wasn’t the Suns’ team doctor anymore, so there was nothing wrong with this arrangement.
"You’re something else."
Chen Yu gave Popovich a thumbs-up and welcomed them inside.
They were already here. How could Chen Yu refuse?
’Might as well treat it as grinding for system EXP,’ he thought.
He just wondered how Skiles would react when he showed up later and saw Popovich and his crew. He’d probably want to curse someone out.
Chen Yu might not be the team doctor anymore, but Skiles wasn’t about to let a top-tier physician like him go to waste. Brian had already made an arrangement with Chen Yu: after every home game, the players would come over the next day for physical maintenance.
After all, Chen Yu’s clinic had all the same equipment as the team facility, and then some.
He had even discussed with Chen Yu about clearing out an area near—or even inside—the clinic to build a new training facility.
The Suns could then just move their daily training operations there.
The league didn’t want Chen Yu as a team doctor and didn’t want him providing physical therapy to the Suns during games, but they couldn’t control what happened outside of the game itself.
"Ah, that feels good."
Lying on the treatment table, Duncan couldn’t help but let out a comfortable groan.
He even managed to give Chen Yu a thumbs-up.
He had played nearly 47 minutes in last night’s game, doing everything for the team and erupting for 44 points. He had truly left it all on the floor.
When he woke up this morning, his entire body was aching.
That McDyess was as hard as a rock; Duncan had taken more than a few elbows from him and was covered in bruises.
If he had just gotten a regular massage and then had to travel to the high altitude of Denver for another game tomorrow, his body really wouldn’t have been able to handle it.
But now, the fatigue had vanished completely.
Chen Yu was even using a flaming alcohol treatment to quickly eliminate the bruises on his body.
"Chen, you really are a Mage!"
Ginobili had heard about Chen Yu’s methods, but this was his first time seeing them in person. Watching Chen Yu’s hands, seemingly wreathed in flame, as he quickly wiped and patted them across Duncan’s body made his scalp tingle.
Duncan, on the other hand, was already used to it, grinning in pure comfort.
"What do you think you’re doing here!"
Just then, Brian burst in. Seeing the room full of Spurs players, his mind was filled with a single, indignant thought: ’Have you no shame?!’

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