As the season progresses for the Golden State Warriors, speculation on the state of the team will constantly swirl around one major factor: health. Already, we’ve seen the Dubs take a major hit with the illness and possible retirement of center Kristaps Porzingis, and that’s just the start. There will be a Jimmy Butler return watch, as he rehabs his torn ACL, starting in two months or so, and Moses Moody’s return will catch attention, too, to a lesser extent. But at the baseline of it all will be the state of Stephen Curry’s right knee, which was affected by a condition known as “runner’s knee” last year, and cost him two months of the NBA season.

Any time Curry comes up with a big performance, comes up with a poor performance, plays a lot of minutes, or plays not-so-many minutes, the state of Curry’s health and knee will be a topic. It was thus on Wednesday after Curry went for 44 points on 11-for-27 shooting in 32 minutes in a masterly showing to beat Minnesota on the road, but it was a different play that showed where Curry is with the knee problem.

Stephen Curry: ‘Indicative of How Good I Feel’

After the game, meeting with Warriors reporters, Curry was asked about a play in the third quarter in which he ran the length of a the floor trying to chase down a loose ball. For a 38-year-old very conscious of preserving his body, Curry showed little regard or caution for the knee.

“I think that’s just more indicative of how good I feel, considering the age, the miles, and how last year went, that I even tried it,” Curry said. “And had a confidence I could get down there. And to your point, I love, I mean, there’s situations that you can find yourself in where you’re just playing basketball and reacting and not thinking about anything, and that’s one of them.”

Warriors on to Lakers Rematch

It’s still October, of course, and anxiety about Curry’s knee is not going anywhere. But as he reports, he’s not thinking about the knee quite as much as everyone else seems to. He will get another chance to test it in a rematch against the Lakers at Chase Center on Friday night.

Curry had 23 points in their meeting on opening night, a 22-point blowout loss for Golden State.