Sports Medicine Master System

"J Kidd is guarding Hardaway. As former teammates, J Kidd is incredibly familiar with Hardaway’s game."

"Hardaway takes the shot... a fadeaway. That’s a tough one, right at the limit."

"Oh, it’s no good! Camby boxes out Sabonis and grabs the rebound."

"Sabonis clearly looks like he can’t get up for the jump."

"The Nuggets are on the fast break, and they get it to J Kidd. J Kidd with the long pass to the corner... Jon Barry is wide open! For three... AND IT’S GOOD! An absolutely crucial shot! The Nuggets have tied the score! With 5.2 seconds left in the half, the Nuggets have tied the game!"

On the CCTV sports channel, Yang Jian called the play-by-play with incredible speed.

With 5.2 seconds on the clock, the Suns called their last timeout of the half and brought in O’Neal.

"They double-team him! Camby’s defense is good. The ball gets passed out... Marion with the floater... Oh, still no good! Anthony wasn’t completely out of position and managed to contest it."

"And that’s the half. The score is tied, 56-56."

"An exciting first half of basketball. The Nuggets are playing with incredible heart. They only made one substitution the entire half. After being down by seven in the first quarter, it was J Kidd who led the team back to tie the game."

「The camera cut back to the studio.」

Yang Jian turned to the two guest commentators, Xu Jicheng and Su Jun.

"What are your thoughts on the first half, gentlemen?" Yang Jian asked.

Xu Jicheng and Su Jun exchanged a glance, and Xu Jicheng spoke first. "All I can say is it’s been fantastic. Fifty-six points at the half isn’t a low score by any means. Both teams came out in top form, especially the Nuggets. Their defense in the first half was superb. On the perimeter, J Kidd shouldered the load, single-handedly cutting off the connection between the Suns’ guards and their big men."

"They can score, they can defend, and they have a fast transition offense. The Nuggets are playing incredibly well today. After all, you have to remember they’re facing the Suns—the defending champions, the team they call the Five-star Phoenix Suns."

Yang Jian nodded in agreement. "Coach Xu’s analysis is spot on. The Nuggets are really in the zone today. Coach Su, do you think their current form has anything to do with them playing in Phoenix and getting their condition tuned up at Dr. Chen’s clinic?"

At the mention of this, Su Jun smiled and nodded. "Oh, absolutely. Otherwise, how could J Kidd and Anthony dare to play the entire half without a break?"

"The viewers at home might not realize just how much of a physical toll one professional game takes on these players, especially in the playoffs with this high-intensity, two-games-in-three-days schedule."

"Look at the regular season. On the second night of back-to-backs, teams often lose, and the star players’ performance suffers. At the end of the day, it’s all because the physical exertion is just too great."

"Once your body gets tired, you can’t jump as high, you can’t handle physical contact as well, and your shooting becomes inconsistent. Naturally, your performance is going to drop."

He paused for a moment, and Xu Jicheng chimed in, picking up his thread. "Just as Teacher Su said, the playoff schedule is packed and the intensity is high. At a time like this, if a team lacks bench depth, it’s hard to go far. But now that the Nuggets can go to Dr. Chen’s clinic for physical maintenance and conditioning, they can naturally opt for this strategy of a short rotation, relying almost entirely on their starters."

"And among these NBA teams, the skill gap between starting lineups isn’t as big as we might think. That’s the main reason the Nuggets were able to tie the game by halftime."

"J Kidd alone elevates the Nuggets’ offensive and defensive systems so much. If he were to come out for a rest, there’s no way the Nuggets could keep the score this close."

Speaking of which, Xu Jicheng couldn’t help but marvel, "Chen Yu’s ability to restore and maintain an athlete’s physical condition is truly world-class. Fans who follow the news from the United States might already know this, but just yesterday, after the Mavericks’ away game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, they actually used a private jet to fly several of their key rotation players specifically to Phoenix for physical maintenance."

"Something like that is simply unheard of."

Yang Jian was startled. He had actually missed that piece of news from yesterday.

"Coach Xu, are you saying the Mavericks played an away game in Minnesota, then flew all the way to Phoenix to see Dr. Chen for conditioning, and then flew back to Minnesota for their next game?"

Xu Jicheng nodded. "Exactly. Unprecedented, right? It just goes to show that Chen Yu’s ability to tune up a player’s condition is frighteningly effective. I watched the Mavericks and Timberwolves game. The Mavericks also won that match by relying on their starters to play the entire game."

Before Yang Jian could even process his astonishment, Su Jun chimed in with a smile. "And it’s not just the Mavericks. According to the latest news this morning, over in the United States, the Spurs, the Grizzlies, the Kings, and the Lakers all flew to Phoenix on private jets the morning after their respective games."

"Guess what the media in the United States is saying? They’re saying we might as well forget about home and away courts and just schedule all the playoff games in Phoenix. It would save the teams all this back-and-forth travel."

This time, Yang Jian’s eyes truly went wide with disbelief. "All of them went?"

That meant that, aside from the Minnesota Timberwolves, all the other Western Conference teams went to Phoenix for physical maintenance with Chen Yu.

’The Timberwolves are really missing out.’

"That’s right, they all really went. The funny thing is, the Kings and the Lakers actually chartered the same plane. It’s incredible just thinking about it." Su Jun knew the Lakers’ movements very well, as Sports Weekly had reporters who were always tracking Yao Ming.

The news had reached China in the middle of the night.

"The same plane? That’s too much," Yang Jian said, his eyes wide. "One day they’re opponents, the next they’re on the same flight to Phoenix. Players from both teams, chatting on the same plane... the thought of that scene is just hilarious."

Xu Jicheng also raised an eyebrow in surprise. "That really is a bit wild. Coach Su, you’ve interacted with Chen Yu a lot. Is his physical therapy and massage really that effective?"

Players are already exhausted during the playoffs, and with only two games in three days, time is tight. Yet they still insisted on taking a day to fly all the way to Phoenix. If Chen Yu’s methods weren’t truly incredible, what team would dare to do such a thing?

"It’s genuinely incredible."

Su Jun nodded in deep agreement, then said, "We all know that maintaining an athlete’s competitive condition is a very difficult thing. The conventional methods are just arranging proper recovery training and using physical therapy, massage, and other means to recover after a game."

"This is how it’s done everywhere, both abroad and here in China."

"But Dr. Chen is top-tier in this field. First of all, he’s probably the first person in the world to apply all sorts of high-tech equipment to athlete recovery. The Ultra-Low Temperature Freezing Chamber, the Floating Pod... I bet a lot of people have never even heard of these things, but he’s already been using them for two or three years."

"Aside from the equipment, there’s his massage technique. And that’s something I have firsthand experience with."

Yang Jian cut in, asking, "Coach Su, the media has reported time and again that Doctor Chen’s massage technique is amazing. But how is it amazing? Is his technique special, or what?"

In Yang Jian’s mind, massage techniques were all more or less the same. He couldn’t understand how the effects could be so drastically different.

Su Jun thought for a moment. "How should I put this... You’ll never know how incredible he is until you experience it yourself. I’ve also interviewed him specifically about it. He told me that he’s extremely familiar with human anatomy. He can feel the tension in your muscles just by touch and then perform a targeted massage to relax them."

"It’s just unbelievable. For example, when he’s diagnosing an injury, he often doesn’t need any instruments or equipment. Just by a hands-on physical examination, he can determine if there’s any ligament or muscle damage. And his accuracy is frighteningly high—like, one hundred percent."

"Then there’s the power behind it. To be honest, I’ve always suspected he might know Qi Gong."

At these words, Yang Jian couldn’t help but gasp in surprise.

The conversation was going so well, how did it suddenly veer into something as ethereal as Qi Gong?

Su Jun said, "I’m not trying to be mysterious. Let me put it this way: when he’s massaging you, you can clearly feel your muscles warming up, as if you’re soaking in a hot bath. It’s incredibly comfortable."

"That can’t just be heat from the friction of his hands, right? So after thinking it over and over, the only explanation I can come up with is Qi Gong."

"Look, back when he first started as the Suns’ team doctor, he was already leading many players in practicing the Five Animals Qigong for fitness. Olajuwon, for instance, loved it. He would even make a point to practice it before games. Just from that perspective alone, if he didn’t know Qi Gong, I would find that very hard to believe."