The season was officially over.
For Chen Yu, a huge chunk of his heavy workload had disappeared.
After all, every time the team played an away game, Chen Yu couldn’t help but worry that what happened to J Kidd might happen again.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Nelson and the others. The reality was that without the Eye of All-Seeing, no one could detect a hidden injury right away.
Besides, injuries went hand-in-hand with accidents, and you never knew when an accident would strike.
In the morning, Chen Yu drove to the US Airways Center first.
"Jon, come give me a hand." As he got out of his car, Chen Yu saw Jon Hamm and quickly called him over.
Jon Hamm came over and watched as Chen Yu struggled to drag a human-shaped object from the bed of his pickup truck.
And there were three more of them.
"Boss, what is this?" Ham stepped forward to help Chen Yu lift it out of the truck.
The moment his hand touched it, he instinctively shuddered. It felt like he had just touched a person’s shoulder.
Chen Yu smiled. "You want to know? Open it up and see for yourself. One of them is for you."
"There’s one for me?"
Dubious, Ham tore open the heavy outer packaging. He was startled to see a human head covered in dense markings—letters and red and blue lines.
"Boss, what is this? A human anatomical model?"
Chen Yu nodded. "That’s right, it’s an anatomical model, but one that includes acupoints and meridians. Weren’t you guys always interested in Acupuncture and acupoint massage? I specially bought four models for you to study during the off-season."
You couldn’t get these in the United States. He had to rely on his connections at a traditional Chinese medicine clinic to have them shipped from China, and they had only arrived last week.
They were custom-made, and Chen Yu had even contributed all the English translations for the acupoints.
Ham’s eyes lit up. Among their group, Nelson and Byron Howard were the most interested. However, he and the other trainer were also quite intrigued. As Trainers, they sometimes provided massages and tuina for the players.
"Thanks." Ham’s gaze fell on the model’s head. "Boss," he said in surprise, "are there really this many acupoints on just the human head?"
The model’s head was densely covered with acupoints and several intersecting lines, which must have been the meridians Chen Yu mentioned.
Chen Yu nodded. "Of course. I’ve told you before, there are 362 important acupoints on the human body, and that’s not even counting the extraordinary points."
Seeing Ham look a little overwhelmed, Chen Yu turned and retrieved a book from his car.
It was the book he had been writing.
He had excerpted and printed a draft of one part of it.
Chen Yu didn’t expect these guys to understand the theories of yin-yang and the five elements—he himself only had a partial understanding. He just needed to tell them which acupoints were useful and how to use them.
This book, about an inch thick, recorded all the acupoint applications he knew.
"I also prepared a set of silver needles and a training CD. I’ll give them to you in a bit. You can go back and try them out, but be cautious. Don’t go trying it on people before you’re familiar with it." This was Chen Yu’s off-season assignment for the medical team.
Having them familiarize themselves with this would allow them to better coordinate with him and complete their work next season.
’Since I’ve already found a way to grind for rehabilitation experience, I can’t be bothered with earning experience from ordinary massages like this anymore. It’s just too much of a waste of energy and stamina.’
Ham took the book, thanking him repeatedly.
「In the conference room.」
It was less of a meeting and more of a banquet to celebrate the end of a season where no one had caused any major trouble.
"Boss, they all got gifts. What about me?" Everyone else had a model and a book, but she had nothing. Melissa couldn’t help but ask.
’I want to improve too.’
Actually, Chen Yu had wanted to get Melissa a copy of the *Compendium of Materia Medica*, but he couldn’t find a suitable English translation.
Although excerpts from the *Compendium of Materia Medica* had appeared in the West as early as the eighteenth century in the *Map of the Chinese Empire*, and some scholars in the United States had attempted to translate it in the nineteenth century...
...they were all just excerpts, not comprehensive. They only selected and translated information on herbs they deemed useful.
Chen Yu had searched for a long time but couldn’t find a suitable version.
He pulled a book out of his bag and handed it to her.
It was a collection of formulas that Chen Yu had compiled in his spare time, focusing on medicinal cuisine and supplements—exactly Melissa’s line of work. She could definitely use it as a reference for her research.
"I have a complete, unabridged copy of the *Compendium of Materia Medica* in my car, which is much more detailed, but it doesn’t have an English translation. So I’ll give it to you as a memento," Chen Yu added.
’Besides, for a top student like Melissa, if she really wants to learn, she could always learn Chinese in her spare time.’
Melissa thanked him profusely. In the United States, books were very expensive. The gifts from Chen Yu could be considered quite substantial.
"Alright everyone, I’ll see you all in October," Chen Yu said, raising his glass.
Everyone had received a gift, and in turn, the group had prepared a gift for him as well.
"See you in October."
Everyone raised their glasses.
For the medical team, the long season was officially over.
「In the parking lot.」
Chen Yu said his goodbyes to everyone one by one.
Watching them drive away, he felt an inexplicable sense of envy.
These guys were completely free now, with plenty of time to rest.
Nelson had already planned a ski vacation to Europe with his family.
Howard was going to Hawaii.
Greg Davis had appointments with players to keep making money.
Only he still had a pile of things waiting for him.
It wasn’t just Hardaway and Ronaldo’s rehabilitation plans. The off-season was about to start, and he could imagine many players would be looking for him to treat their injuries.
’The truly busy time hasn’t even begun.’
He drove to the clinic.
He still had to prepare for Olajuwon’s herniated disc surgery.
And after that, Chen Yu had to prepare for Baggio’s or other players’ injuries. The medical results definitely couldn’t be lacking.
’I don’t mind it myself. If it’s for grinding experience, I can’t help being tired.’
But making Lexi work so hard all day made Chen Yu feel a bit bad. He started thinking about hiring another doctor.
Lexi had her own career in general surgery; it wasn’t fair to have her constantly assisting him with orthopedic surgeries.
Then there was Jamie’s meniscus transplant project.
Running through the list, Chen Yu’s scalp tingled. There was just too much to do.
After finishing the routine rehabilitation therapy for his several VIP patients and arranging their recovery plans for the day, Chen Yu had a rare moment of free time while waiting for the surgery to begin. He opened his computer and browsed some news about the Magic.
The Phoenix Suns were out.
And the Heat, too. Riley had gone to great lengths to get Moning back on the court, only for them to get swept 3-0 by the Hornets. Talk about bad luck.
Only the Magic were left.
Chen Yu really hadn’t expected the Magic to still be winning, and to even have a chance at a comeback.
On ESPN’s official website, there was a lot of news about the playoffs, and a good portion of it was about the Magic.
"Huh, ’The Cousins’ Comeback’?" Chen Yu saw an interesting headline and clicked on it.
"After consecutive losses, Devil’s Mountain has finally found the key to leading his team to victory: scoring himself."
"This is the right move. He’s the team’s leader. When the team is in trouble, everyone looks to him, and we have always underestimated Hill’s scoring ability. He brought his humble personality onto the court, making him more unselfish, more willing to help his teammates by passing."
"On a top-tier contender, there would be no problem with Hill’s approach; he would be the perfect piece of a championship puzzle. But on the Magic, he has to change. He has to be more selfish and score more points. I think it took losing the first two games for Hill to understand this, which is a major reason why the Magic were able to win two straight."
"As it turns out, if Hill wants to, he can easily score thirty, even forty or fifty points."
"At the same time, we can’t ignore the impact of Tracy McGrady. This young rising star was developed by the Raptors as a defensive wing, but during the time Hill was out with an injury, we witnessed his scoring ability. At one point, he was averaging nearly 30 points per game. He has tremendous scoring potential."
"He is also a top-tier defender. A big reason the Magic won Game 4 was that Tracy McGrady shut down Iverson, holding him to just 24 points."
"For Iverson, 24 points is a failure of a stat line, which just goes to show how good Tracy McGrady’s defense was."
"Clearly, Paul Plessey has found the code to winning. He’s no longer having Hill run the offense but has transformed him into the on-ball offensive core. With him as the centerpiece, he drives the entire Magic offense and creates more open scoring opportunities for Tracy McGrady."
"On the defensive end, fortunately, the Digital People’s inside offense is lacking. In crucial moments, they can have Hill and Tracy McGrady double-team Iverson, trapping and harassing him. That’s exactly what the Magic did on the final few key plays of Game 4."
"The Magic have mounted a comeback. And also in the East, Tracy McGrady’s cousin has led his team to a comeback of his own."
"32 points, 4 assists, 7 rebounds, plus 2 steals and 2 blocks. Vince Carter has finally gotten his revenge on the Nicks. Last season, they were swept by the Nicks in the playoffs, but this year, they might have a chance to upset them."
"Of course, it’s partly because the Nicks are another year older, but Carter’s talent is plain to see. He will become a top-tier star in the league. And as for Tracy McGrady, I wonder if Glennwald regrets letting go of the talented player he personally drafted."
The report went on for quite a while.
After reading it, Chen Yu had a general idea of how the Magic were winning.
’It’s all thanks to Tracy McGrady.’
’That guy is truly incredible. The Magic really struck gold.’
Chen Yu subconsciously glanced at the author’s name.
Adrian Wojnarowski.
A pretty long name.
Chen Yu paused for a moment. He remembered now; he had met this reporter back in Orlando. The guy had wanted to interview him.
He wasn’t lying. He really did write for ESPN.
He skimmed a few other reports.
Hill had always attracted a lot of attention, and now that he was on the verge of leading his team to a miraculous eighth-seed upset, the attention was even greater.
However, as he read on, Chen Yu found that not many reports were optimistic about the Magic pulling off the eighth-seed upset.
The reason was simple: the Digital People were just too strong.
With a 56-26 record, they would have a top-tier record even in the stacked West.
Moreover, their roster was well-constructed, and they were led by Iverson, who had just won the scoring title.
Looking at their strength on paper, there was no way the Magic looked like a match for the Digital People.
But if the Magic really did pull off the eighth-seed upset, and the Raptors came back to beat the Nicks, things would get interesting.
It would be a clean sweep of upsets.
Just as Wojnarowski wrote, it would be the cousins’ comeback.

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