The more points the Nuggets give up, the redder Michael Malone becomes.

So it’s no wonder that he was in an emotional fever after the highest-scoring regular game of all Nuggets opponents in his ten years as coach.

“Fuck it all. We’re not finished,” he said Monday after sitting down for a heated postgame press conference. “You don’t blush when you’re embarrassed. You don’t flush if you’ve given up 145 points.”

This was exactly the kind of loss Malone loathes most. Denver’s aesthetically ugly 102-87 dud against Oklahoma City on opening night? No need to panic, insisted the 53-year-old coach, who calmly diagnosed the team’s inefficiency. How about a 135-122 victory over Miami in early November that extends the winning streak to four? “Right now, we’re winning with our offense,” he said that night, and he didn’t mean it as a compliment.

With a 145-118 loss to the Knicks, the Nuggets (9-7) fell to 5-4 at Ball Arena this season and in their last 13 home games dating back to their second-round playoff series against Minnesota. to 6:7. During their 2022/23 championship season – including playoffs – they lost a total of eight home games.

“Sixteen games have been played and we’re talking about effort,” Malone said as the Knicks could be heard celebrating on the other side of the wall behind him in the visitors’ locker room. “We talk about toughness. We’re talking about physicality. … Regardless of who’s in, who’s out, who do we want to be as a team? So, yes. Leadership would be great. Robustness would be great. Physicality would be great. It would be great to play like you really care. We didn’t do that tonight.”

Malone specifically named the starting lineup, imploring Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray to be vocal leaders while reiterating that the Knicks had “embarrassed” his team. He highlighted the Nuggets’ transition defense, calling it a “lopsided running team.” He called for collective effort.

“We’re just kidding ourselves,” Malone said. “We’re just kidding ourselves. Yes, they are a good team. But if that’s the effort we put in, we won’t even be close to being a playoff team.”

“We didn’t show up tonight,” Jokic admitted.

After 16 games, Denver ranks eighth in offense, 17th in defense and 13th in net rating – but 29th in first-half net rating. The loss to New York puts the Nuggets in a duel with Phoenix for seventh place in the highly competitive Western Conference.

Murray felt the Knicks were playing like a team coming off a loss – they fell 121-106 to Utah on Saturday – while the Nuggets weren’t playing hard after a win over the Lakers, also on Saturday, that catapulted Malone into the net Enough played the only position as the winningest coach in franchise history.