Kendrick Perkins' Honest Jamal Murray Admission Following Nuggets' Loss

The Denver Nuggets are 9-7 through their first 16 games, likely not quite where they expected to be at this point. Especially as Nikola Jokic is in the best form of his career.

Yes, that's right, the generational center who has won three of the last four MVP awards, is having the best year of his career. 

Still, the Nuggets have failed to look like the No. 2 seeded team they were the year before or even a champion two years ago. There are plenty of reasons factoring into that.

This past offseason, the club took a noticeable step back as it pertains to their bench and the production they're getting from it. However, recently, they were called out by Nuggets head coach Mike Malone.

"Nah, [expletive] that," Malone said. "No, we're not flushing. 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, didn't play with physicality. I'm not flushing anything."

Malone didn't stop there. They let up 145 points to the Knicks and were dominated on their home floor. He was beyond frustrated. While Russell Westbrook did his part, the team didn't get the production needed from Jokic or Jamal Murray.