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Denver coach Mike Malone pulled no punches after the Nuggets were blown out 145-118 by the New York Knicks at home on Monday night.

Malone, whose Nuggets host the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night in Salt Lake City, called out everything from his team’s leadership to what he perceived as the players’ lackadaisical and lethargic play.

“Regardless of who’s in, who’s out — who do we want to be as a team?” Malone said while lashing out in his postgame interview. “Leadership would be great. Toughness would be great. Physicality would be great. Playing like you actually care would be great. We didn’t do that tonight.”

Denver didn’t play much defense, either.

The Knicks outscored them by 12 points in the first quarter, built a 23-point halftime lead and burst ahead by as many as 30 points while dominating every statistical category.

New York shot 60.9 percent, recorded a franchise-record 45 assists (to Denver’s 23), outrebounded the Nuggets 43-33 and tallied 16 more points in the paint (62-46) and on fast breaks (24-8).

Russell Westbrook led Denver with 27 points, while Nikola Jokic contributed a below-average 22 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Jamal Murray added 20 points.

Malone lamented the lopsided loss, but he’s even more concerned that the Nuggets are trending in the wrong direction.

“Russell Westbrook is vocal, but we need more than Russell Westbrook. I need Nikola Jokic. I need Jamal Murray. I need guys that have been here in that starting lineup to be vocal,” Malone said. “… We got embarrassed. What just happened — let’s be honest, it happened tonight for four quarters, but it happened in the first half against Dallas. We’re 16 games in and we’re talking effort, we’re talking about toughness, we’re talking about physicality.”

The Jazz beat the same Knicks squad in Utah on Saturday but fell apart in the fourth quarter of their 128-115 setback against the visiting San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night. They’ll be on a back-to-back for this one against Denver.

After trailing by just one point early in the fourth quarter, Utah was outscored by 10 points the rest of the way while only scoring 22 points in the final stanza. It was the Jazz’s fifth loss in six games.

The most glaring stat: the Jazz turned the ball over 21 times leading to 33 points for the Spurs. San Antonio only had 10 turnovers.

“I really do think that ultimately tonight we beat ourselves,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “Close game at home going into the fourth. They have eight offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter alone, and another night where we have 20-plus turnovers. It’s just hard to win.”

Utah was eliminated from the NBA Cup with the loss in which Victor Wembanyama scored 34 points with six 3-pointers on 13-of-23 shooting.

Keyonte George led Utah with 26 points and hit 9 of 16 shots. Collin Sexton scored 20 with four assists.

Lauri Markkanen had 14 points, but he injured his knee when he collided with Wembanyama and didn’t return. The Jazz called the injury a left-knee contusion.

Denver won the first game against the Jazz, 129-103, at home on Nov. 2. That was the final loss in Utah’s 0-6 start.

–Field Level Media