NEW ORLEANS – In the wake of Thursday night’s Halloween embarrassment, Nuggets coach Michael Malone unloaded on his team.

First he began on a micro level, assailing his team’s effort in transition. Their abysmal effort led to 37 points on the break for the Pelicans en route to the 122-107 pounding. Throughout New Orleans’ four games – all losses – they’d averaged just 16 points in that fashion.

The gap between the Pelicans’ true identity as opposed to the team the Nuggets let them become was due to effort, Malone asserted.

“I’m embarrassed. … You can give all the transition defense rules that you want, to me, transition defense boils down to one thing – effort,” he said. “Get back. You can tell them. You can lead a horse to water – whatever analogy you want to use. We did not get back.”

The Nuggets might not be wallowing at 3-2 if Thursday night’s transition defense was the only issue. Nikola Jokic was a shell of himself, finishing with 13 points, six rebounds and six assists. For several games he’s appeared detached from the offense and occasionally frustrated with its lack of movement. It seemed to manifest midway through the fourth quarter with the game already slipping away.

Jamal Murray lost the ball with 7:46 remaining while trying to feed Jokic, and Jahlil Okafor took off for an uncontested layup. All Jokic could do was toss his hands in the air as the transition number ticked up. A stoppage not 20 seconds later saw nearly a full shift change, with four reserves checking in, and Jokic oddly sprinted to the bench.

“They just outworked us today,” Jokic said.

The dispiriting loss overshadowed any excitement of Michael Porter Jr.’s NBA debut.

Said veteran Paul Millsap: “It’s still early in the season. Guys are still learning how to get up for games like this.”

With his finger on the pulse of the team, Malone went macro and railed on his starters as a whole. Most alarming, he questioned how much his team was willing to invest considering the lofty expectations bestowed upon them this offseason.

“We’re a great talk team,” Malone said. “We can talk before the season starts about all the things we want to accomplish, and we want to be a championship contending team. It’s all (bogus). Don’t tell me about it, show me. And right now we’ve got a lot of guys that aren’t showing me much. And just care. I know you’re going to make a mistake. Just show me that you care.”

Malone cited Nuggets backup center Mason Plumlee as someone whose play is never dictated by time or score.

“That’s what I love about Mason,” Malone said.

In the downtrodden postgame locker room, as Jokic bounced a rubber ball and others hustled out of the cramped room quickly, Plumlee distilled everything that was apparent Thursday night.

“I don’t consider effort a learning curve,” he said succinctly.

In that vein, Murray spoke up after Malone told his team the effort wasn’t good enough. No one would divulge exactly what was said, but others praised him for speaking his mind.

“Good for him for standing up, sticking up and saying something,” Millsap said. “I think as a group, we know our goals and what we’re trying to accomplish. Games like this happen sometimes. It’s going to happen, but I think at the end of the day, it’s how you retaliate and how you come back from it.”