Jamal Murray lost his cool on the bench and tossed a heat pack onto the court.

It was the Nuggets’ frustration boiling over.

Irritated by no-calls and irate over missed calls, the Nuggets melted down in a 106-80 loss to the Timberwolves in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals Monday night in Denver. The Wolves turned up the pressure and the defending NBA champions lost their temper, trailing by 32 points in a game that got out of hand before halftime.

The second-seeded Nuggets trail the third-seeded Timberwolves 2-0 as their second-round playoff series shifts to Minneapolis. The Nuggets are searching for the rhythm that allowed them to go 16-4 in the postseason during last year’s title run. They’ve struggled against a hungry Timberwolves squad playing relentless defense.

“A loss like this is tough,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “You feel embarrassed ... exposed. So what are you going to do about it? ... Have the courage to look yourself in the mirror and say, ‘I did not do my job tonight,’ and be better next game.”

Sitting on the bench in the second quarter, Murray tossed a heat pack toward the court after a layup by Karl-Anthony Towns. There wasn’t a call on Murray, but a warning from the public address announcer to the crowd not to throw objects onto the floor.

In a pool report, official Marc Davis said the crew wasn’t aware the object came from the bench. Had they known, “we could have reviewed it under the hostile act trigger. The penalty would have been a technical foul,” he said.

Murray could be looking at a fine. He was not available to speak with reporters after the game.

Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves forced the Nuggets into 34.9% shooting and countless turnovers. Murray was 3 of 18 from the floor.

The Nuggets have a few days to regroup, with Game 3 scheduled for Friday.

“The body language of our guys is not where it needs to be,” Malone said. “We just got beat up in our building.

“We got embarrassed in front of our fans.”

In rare air: Jalen Brunson has become the fourth player to score 40 or more points in four consecutive postseason games, the first since Michael Jordan in the 1993 NBA Finals.

Brunson reached 40 with a big fourth quarter Monday night and finished with 43 to rally the second-seeded Knicks to a 121-117 victory in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the sixth-seeded Pacers. The Knicks trailed by nine early in the fourth quarter before Brunson scored 21 in the final period.

Lakers Hall of Famer Jerry West holds the record with six consecutive games of 40 or more points, set during the 1965 postseason. Bernard King had four straight for the Knicks in 1984 and Jordan did it en route to his third straight championship.

Brunson finished the first-round series against the 76ers with games of 47, 40 and 41 points.