Karl-Anthony Towns had 39 points and 13 rebounds, Ricky Rubio scored 22 points and broke his own franchise record with 19 assists, and the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Washington Wizards 119-104 on Monday night.
Nemanja Bjelica added 16 points and 10 boards off the bench for the Timberwolves, who entered the game 3½ games behind Denver for the eighth seed in the Western Conference. Minnesota shot 52 percent and Rubio topped 20 points in back-to-back games for the second time in his six-year career.
John Wall scored 27 points for the Wizards, who fell 2 ½ games back of Cleveland for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Bradley Beal added 20 points, but Washington lost for the first time in six games.
