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Chapter 56 - The Weight of Trophies and Tactical Boards

When the spotlight of the award ceremony settled on the "Rookie of the Year" trophy in Lin Mo's palms, the metal felt colder than he'd imagined—colder than the sweat-soaked tactical board in the training gym, colder than the calluses on his fingers from gripping a basketball for hours.

Backstage, his phone buzzed. The boy's message arrived with a photo: a printout of the "First Team All-Rookie" list, taped to the wall of the rehab room, his name circled three times in red marker. But the real focus was the scrawl beneath it, in smudged pencil: "Western Conference Finals G7, 4th quarter, 0:03 left—you tracked the guard's sock, but missed the center sliding over. His left shoulder dipped 2cm before he moved. I counted."

The boy's voice note followed, breath hitching like he was mid-stretch: "Doc says I can try layups now. Did 20 today, missed 12. Same as your pass—overcalculated the spin. But hey, the 8 I made? They felt like your 3-pointers in Game 5. Sharp. Clean."

Lin Mo ran a thumb over the trophy's edge, where the engraving bit into his skin. The system flickered to life, projecting a hologram of season stats: [Individual detail-recognition rate: 79% (1st among rookies). Team detail-execution rate: 41% (bottom 3 in playoff teams). Correlation between G7 turnover and unshared details: 89%]. He thought of Booker in the locker room after Game 7, slamming a towel onto the tactical board—its surface crisscrossed with his messy Xs (wrong rotations), the backup center's shorthand ("SOCK GUY!"), and Lin Mo's own tiny note: "Missed the screen. Again."

The ceremony's applause still rang in his ears, but it sounded thinner than the creak of the training gym door as he pushed it open an hour later. The tactical board glowed under the overhead lights, a living thing. He snapped a photo, texting the boy: "Trophies collect dust. This? It breathes."

On the way out, he passed the equipment room. Through the door, he heard Booker muttering to himself, tracing the Xs on the board with a finger. "Next time," the voice said, "we don't miss the screen."

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