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Towns leaves big hole to fill

Wolves update: The Wolves will be without Karl-Anthony Towns, who is suspended for two games for his involvement in a fight with 76ers center Joel Embiid on Wednesday. Towns is off to a monster start. He earned Western Conference player of the week honors for the Wolves' first three games and is averaging 27.3 points and 11.5 rebounds. Towns gobbles up 30% of available defensive rebounds when he's on the floor and has the best defensive rating (106.6 points allowed per 100 possessions) of any Wolves starter. Likely to take his place in the starting lineup is Noah Vonleh, who is averaging 4.8 points and 3.5 rebounds in 14.2 minutes per game. Last season Towns missed five games, the only ones he has missed in his career. The Wolves went 2-3 without him with both wins coming against the Knicks.

Wizards update: The Wizards are in a tough spot with John Wall recovering from a ruptured Achilles' tendon. Bradley Beal is trying to carry them, but they have started 1-3. They have a lot of potential offensively and lost a thriller to the Rockets 159-158 on Wednesday. They are second in offensive rating at 113.6 points per 100 possessions and have the same number for their defensive rating, though that ranks 25th. Beal is averaging 26.8 points per game and has gotten some help from rookie Rui Hachimura (18 ppg) while Thomas Bryant is averaging a double-double (14.5 points, 10.3 rebounds).

chris hine