Michael Malone labelled the manner of the Denver Nuggets’ 145-118 loss to the New York Knicks “embarrassing” as they fell to their second straight defeat at home.

The 145 points scored by the Knicks were the most by a visiting side at the Ball Arena since April 2022, when the Los Angeles Lakers racked up 146 in an overtime victory.

While the Nuggets had the NBA's joint second-best record at home last season at 33-8, their record this season tells a different tale at 5-4.

Malone vowed the home team would not just move past the blowout, telling reporters: "F*** that man, no. No, we're not flushing.

"You don't flush when you get embarrassed, you don't flush when you gave up 145 points, you don't flush when you didn't play hard, didn't play with effort, physicality, I'm not flushing anything."

Final #MileHighBasketball pic.twitter.com/ppyDODWSCN
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) November 26, 2024

The Nuggets allowed the Knicks to beat records all over the court. OG Anunoby made a career-high 40 points, while Jalen Brunson also attained a career-best in supplying 17 of New York’s 45 assists.

Malone’s focus remained on the efforts of his own players, however. He called for better leadership from his starters.

"Russell Westbrook, he's vocal -- but we need more than Russell Westbrook. I need Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, I need guys that have been here in that starting lineup to be vocal. And you know tonight we got embarrassed,” he explained.

"We're 16 games in and we're talking about effort, we're talking about toughness, we're talking about physicality. ... And regardless of who's in, who's out, who do we want to be as a team?

“So, yeah, leadership would be great, toughness would be great, physicality would be great, playing like you actually care would be great, and we didn't do that tonight."

Westbrook totalled 27 points off the bench for the Nuggets, but Jokic finished with a career-low seven rebounds and a 22-point total.

"We didn't show up tonight. It's always a good punch in the face just to wake up," Jokic said.

"Coach was right. We are in the games, and we are always down 20 at a half. I don't know [what's going on]. We don't warm up, we don't wake up, or we just don't play hard enough. I don't know what it is, but collectively, we need to do a better job."