The Denver Nuggets have had an uncharacteristically poor start to the 2024-25 NBA season. Their 148-115 loss to the New York Knicks on Monday night dropped them to 9-7 on the campaign.
While 16 games doesn’t seem like much, it’s roughly one-fifth of the 82-game NBA season, and issues that don’t get resolved now could continue to present themselves for the rest of the year.
After Denver’s blowout home loss, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone went off on his team. Denver’s Ball Arena has been one of the toughest places for visiting teams to play this season, but the Nuggets are just 5-4 in the building this season, which is adding to Malone’s frustration.
“F— that man, no. No, we’re not flushing,” Malone said when a reporter asked if the Nuggets need to just flush this game out of their memory and move on. “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.”
More alarming for Malone and the Nuggets is that they hadn’t allowed 145 points in regulation at home since a 153-118 loss to the Phoenix Suns in April 1991.
Malone also called out two of his star players for a lack of leadership.
“Well, yeah, I mean like 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,” Malone noted.
For the past few seasons, the Nuggets have been an annual contender in the Western Conference, winning the NBA Championship in 2023. The strong play of Jokic, a three-time NBA MVP, and Murray, a promising young guard, has aided the team. Malone expects more of the two and his team of veterans, and is disappointed to be almost two months into the season and still talking about the same things.
“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.”
The Nuggets return to action Wednesday night against the Utah Jazz.
[ESPN]
