Malone sounds off on Jokic, Murray after Knicks thrash Nuggets

DENVER—The Denver Nuggets soiled their brand new city edition jerseys with an ugly 145-118 loss to the New York Knicks but they won’t be flushing their mess.

It was the most points the Nuggets have allowed in a regulation game since the disaster Paul Westhead era as the Knicks set a franchise record in assists and OG Anunoby set a career-high in scoring. A truly historic blowout by the Knickerbockers at Ball Arena all the while Denver began the game by honoring Michael Malone for setting the franchise mark for wins by a coach. The Nuggets started the contest by not showing up.

The Knicks quickly jumped out to a double-digit lead and did not look back. In fact, it probably would’ve been a lot worse had Russell Westbrook not had the highest-scoring quarter of his illustrious career during garbage time in the fourth.

“Nah f*** that, No, we’re not flushing. You don’t flush when you get embarrassed. You don’t flush when you give up 145 points. You don’t flush when you didn’t play hard, you didn’t play with effort, you play with difficulty. I’m not flushing anything,” a livid Michael Malone said postgame.

Malone “you don’t flush it when you get embarrassed.”

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— Jake Shapiro (@shapalicious.bsky.social) November 25, 2024 at 9:32 PM

“Russell Westbrook, he’s vocal. But we need more than Russell Westbrook. I need Nikola Jokic. I need Jamal Murray. I need guys that have been here and in that starting lineup to be vocal, and tonight we got embarrassed,” Malone said. “I mean, what just happened is, and let’s be honest, it happened tonight for four quarters, it happened in the first half against Dallas. So 16 games in, and we’re talking about effort, we’re talking about toughness. We’re talking about physicality. Game one in Memphis. This is, regardless of who’s in, who’s out, you know, who do we want to be as a team? And 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. Give them credit. They’re coming off of a bad loss in Utah, and they played like it, they played urgent, physical, desperate, motivated basketball, and we played like we won a game in LA and like we could just show up tonight. And when you think you can do that against a good team like that, that’s what’s going to happen.”

The Nuggets have lost four of their last six games and each of their last two at home both against contenders. A game Malone mentions as another night without effort was a 101-94 loss to Memphis eight days ago. Murray went to New York between a loss to the Pelicans and that loss to the Grizzlies to watch his friend in a UFC fight. Murray struggled in the game that followed in Memphis, shooting 6-of-15. Yet he had an interesting take on the Nuggets on Monday, who were coming off a Saturday win in Los Angeles.

“It’s a long season and guys have lives outside of basketball, we just beat L.A. in L.A., we got some guys who live in L.A. and they stayed in L.A. And I don’t think the focus was there from everyone, and that’s what happens when you don’t have the focus,” Murray said. “It’s not on coach, it’s not on anyone but the guys out there on the court. It’s a tough one to accept but it was expected if that is the energy the team is going to bring to start the game and not have a response. I’ve been on both sides of it and tonight we were on the wrong side of it.”

Murray shot six-of-13 and had seven assists in the contest and honestly looked a bit stronger than he has recently. But there wasn’t a bright spot just a Knicks onslaught.

“We didn’t bring the energy that we need to bring, especially at home. So that’s what happens. And I’m glad that happened this early in the season instead of later,” Murray said. “It’s all individual, if everyone picks up their energy and effort we’re good, or at least it’s a game or an acceptable loss. But we got punched in the face and there was no response. Play harder and take some pride while the other team is chanting Knicks in your building. It’s simple, they whooped our a** and we deserved it.”