DENVER — Must-win? You must be kidding.

In a game Carmelo Anthony called a “must-win,” the Knicks were blown out by the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night, 127-114.

The Knicks ended their western swing with a Mile High stinker for their third consecutive loss. They won the first two games of the trip and were desperate to return home with a winning record on the five-city journey. At least Anthony said they were.

The Knicks (14-13), who were without the injured Derrick Rose for the second straight game, lost their ninth in a row in Denver. They last won there in 2006.

Anthony, who missed Thursday night’s loss at Golden State with a right shoulder bruise, paced the Knicks with 29 points. Kristaps Porzingis scored 22 but shot 7-for-19.

Knicks backup center Willy Hernangomez had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Hernangomez played in front of his brother Juancho, who is a Nuggets forward, while the rookies’ family watched in Madrid, Spain. Juancho didn’t get in the game until the end and the brothers were not on the court at the same time.

Kenneth Faried had 25 points off the bench for the Nuggets (11-16), who had seven players score in double figures.

The Knicks did well to be trailing by only eight at halftime. The Nuggets came out strong, opening a 14-3 lead. When former Knick Wilson Chandler hit a fadeaway at the first-quarter buzzer, Denver led 33-22.

The Nuggets opened it up again in the second and led by as much as 17 at 41-24. The Knicks chipped away behind Anthony, who had 18 in the half, including a no-look turnaround with 1.6 seconds left for the final points of the half. The Knicks trailed 62-54.

The Knicks pulled to within five early in the third, forcing Nuggets coach Mike Malone to call a timeout with 8:52 left in the quarter. The former Knicks assistant’s motivational speech must have worked wonders because the Nuggets dominated the rest of the quarter, building a 21-point lead before settling for a 96-80 advantage heading into the fourth.

Rose missed his fourth game in the last six with lower-back tightness. Rose’s injury has been described at times as “spasms” and “soreness,” but he said it’s tightness that has him unable to play.

Rose hopes to return on Tuesday night when the Knicks host the Pacers at the Garden.

“I’m getting better every day, but I don’t want to take any steps back,” Rose said.

Rose missed two games last week and returned last Sunday against the Lakers. He was fouled by the Suns’ Eric Bledsoe, fell on his back and re-injured it Tuesday night in Phoenix.

“I felt like the Phoenix game, I felt good, but it was just a freak accident, me falling on my back again,” Rose said. “With the days [off] after this, I’m going to have two days to actually get treatment before that home game against Indiana. I felt like those two days, I can really use them.”

Rose said he did not return too soon from his original injury, although he admitted he wasn’t 100 percent against the Lakers.

“I felt tight a little bit,” he said. “The Lakers game, I shot nothing but floaters. I didn’t get hit . . . I ended up falling on my back [Tuesday]. If anything, that’s why I don’t want to come back too soon and re-aggravate it or something. Any game I hate missing, but I have to be smart about it. I want to play consistent games instead of like playing one game, aggravating something, then missing two games. I want to play consistent games.”

..... - Newsday