WASHINGTON _ With the Timberwolves down Karl-Anthony Towns for two games, the natural question was, who would step up in his absence? Would somebody, anybody? Or would the Wolves just fall flat without.
At least for the first game sans Towns there answer was _ everyone.
Towns fellow cast mates in the starting lineup did an admirable job picking up their production without their main offensive catalyst, while Gorgui Dieng played like someone who doesn't want to leave the rotation once Towns returns in a 131-109 win over the Wizards at Capital One Arena.
There are moments throughout a season that can help bring a team closer together or drive it further apart. Last season, the Jimmy Butler drama coupled with a 4-9 start doomed the season as it got going. Now, the Wolves have a couple of early touchstones they can build from _ the overtime opening win over Brooklyn and now Friday, when they turned in a dominating performance in shooting 54% on the road without their best player.
Jeff Teague ran the show with 15 points and 13 assists. Robert Covington had his best offensive night of the young season with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Dieng had 18 points, eight rebounds and three blocks while Andrew Wiggins had 21 points and six assists. Off the bench, Jake Layman had 14 while Jarrett Culver had a season-high 20.
Bradley Beal got his for the Wizards with 30, but the Wolves clamped down on the rest of the team, which shot just 29 for 76, with most of their damage coming in garbage time.
The Wolves were clicking on all cylinders from the start, looking determined to attack and play with pace on offense while making life as difficult as possible for the Wizards when they had the ball. Andrew Wiggins was the Firestarter early, getting a floater to go and hitting and 3-pointer to give the Wolves a 13-5 lead. That prompted an early timeout from Wizards coach Scott Brooks, but the Wolves kept rolling out of the timeout.
This time, Covington continued what Wiggins started in getting off to his best offensive start of the season with 10 first-half points. That enabled the Wolves to build a 35-18 lead, prompting another Brooks timeout.
With the Wolves' second unit on the floor, Washington cut the Wolves' lead to 39-34 thanks to some streaky shooting from Isaiah Thomas, but once the starting unit got back in, the Wolves rebuilt their advantage.
In the second quarter, it was Teague and Dieng who took over. Teague nearly had a double-double in the first half with 10 points and nine assists. Dieng played like a man possessed, doing all the Wolves could ask. His first-half numbers were very Towns-like _ 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting, to go along with four rebounds and three blocks. He looked like a natural running the screen and roll on the perimeter, and the Wolves got their lead up to as much as 20 before heading into the locker room up 70-56.
Then the stampede began in the third. Covington began the quarter with a couple of threes and it steamrolled from there for the Wolves, who outscored the Wizards 36-16 and coasted through the fourth.
It was hardly the way anyone thought the night would go without Towns, and the Wolves didn't mind that one bit.
