After his Denver Nuggets were “embarrassed” in a 145-118 loss to the New York Knicks on Monday night, coach Michael Malone was adamant that this is a game he won’t “flush.”

“F— that guy, no. No, we’re not blushing,” Malone said in response to a reporter’s question. “You don’t flush if you’re embarrassed, you don’t flush if you gave up 145 points, you don’t flush if you didn’t play hard, didn’t play with effort, physicality, I don’t flush anything.”

The Knicks led by 12 points after the first quarter, 23 at halftime, and with a whopping 30 points on the night, the team shot an impressive 60.9% from the floor. Their 45 assists tied the team’s single-game record against Cleveland on November 24, 1979.

New York’s 145 points were the most points scored by a Ball Arena visitor since the Los Angeles Lakers scored 146 in an overtime win on April 10, 2022. It was the most points scored by a visiting team in a regular-season game in Denver since the Phoenix Suns won 153-118 on April 16, 1991.

The loss dropped the Nuggets to a surprising 5-4 at home this season. Last season, the team tied for second place at 33-8.

Jalen Brunson, who contributed 17 of New York’s 45 assists, scored a point in the first quarter and scored nine straight points for the Knicks. He defeated the Nuggets by a 9-2 margin to break the game open.

Brunson finished with 23 points, while OG Anunoby scored a career-high 40 points for New York. Russell Westbrook had 27 points for the Nuggets off the bench and Nikola Jokic finished with a season-high 22 points and seven rebounds.

Asked what he expects from his team’s leadership in such situations, Malone said he needs more from his starters in particular.

“Well, I mean, like Russell Westbrook, he’s vocal – but we need more than Russell Westbrook,” Malone replied. “I need Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, I need guys who have been here in the starting lineup to be vocal. And you know, tonight we were embarrassed.

“We’re 16 games in and we’re talking about effort, we’re talking about toughness, we’re talking about physicality. … And no matter who’s in, who’s out, who do we want to be as a team? So yeah, leadership should being great, strength would be great, physicality would be great, playing like you really cared would be great, and we didn’t do that tonight.

Jokic didn’t disagree with his coach’s assessment, saying, “We didn’t show up tonight.”

“It’s always a big slap in the face to wake up,” Jokic said. “The coach was right. We are busy with the games and we are always twenty to one and a half behind. I don’t know what is going on. We don’t warm up, we don’t wake up, or we just don’t do it .” I don’t play hard enough. I don’t know what it is, but collectively we have to do better.”

Malone said the Knicks played like a team coming off a tough loss in Utah, while the Nuggets “played like we won a game in LA and we can just show up tonight.”

Murray also brought up Saturday night’s game against the Lakers and how it may have affected the team’s focus during his post-game press conference.

“It’s a long season. Guys have lives outside of basketball,” Murray said. “We just beat LA in LA. We have some guys who live in LA, so we stayed in LA. I don’t think everyone had the focus, and that’s what happens when you don’t have the focus.”

The Nuggets next play at Utah on Wednesday night.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.