On Monday night, tough love turned into dominating play.

The backdrop: Saturday night was a nightmare. Golden State, hardly a formidable team in the NBA and headed for the draft lottery, did whatever it wanted as the visiting Nuggets looked like innocent bystanders in a damaging loss. After that game, Denver players were challenged to win individual battles. The team was challenged to dial in defensively and play each possession and each game left as if a playoff berth depended on it — which, of course, it does.

It all worked, and then some.

The Nuggets’ attitude adjustment was demonstrated most in the rematch with the Warriors through high-energy rookie forward Kenneth Faried.

“Manimal” was dominant Monday at the Pepsi Center, scoring and rebounding at a career-high rate in the Nuggets’ 123-84 pounding of the Warriors.

“He was tremendous,” said coach George Karl.

It was the Nuggets’ biggest margin of victory this season, topping a 29-point win at Sacramento on Jan. 29. And it kept the Nuggets in the eighth slot in the Western Conference playoff race.

When all was said and done and dunked, Faried had a double-double of 27 points (12-of-18 shooting) and 17 rebounds in only 24 minutes, 7 seconds of playing time. His points and rebounds were career-high totals. He had 19 points and 12 rebounds by halftime in what was, by far, his best performance this season.

“(Golden State forward) David Lee, everyone was saying how good he did against me (Saturday) and how he out- rebounded me and all of that stuff,” Faried said. “I just came out focused and just wanted to send a message that I’m better than what I portrayed last game.”

Faried wasn’t alone. The Nuggets played with focus from the start — a rarity at home this season — and never let up.

“Our defense early in the game was the reason we got the lead and got the offense involved,” Karl said. “Hopefully we got some confidence.”

They sprinted to a 14-2 lead at the 8:38 mark in the first quarter, and to that point not only held Golden State’s scoring to a minimum but kept the Warriors off the glass completely with zero rebounds.

Faried, who had only one point and four rebounds Saturday at Golden State, scored six of the Nuggets’ first 14 points and had three rebounds in that opening stretch. That set the tone.

The Nuggets’ lead ballooned to 26-7, then 30-7, then 37-13 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, they led 57-30, then 63-32. At that point, the game was effectively over. Only routine lead maintenance was required in the second half, but the Nuggets still pressed harder, getting the lead up to 36 points in the third quarter and to 41 in the fourth.

Arron Afflalo added 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Danilo Gallinari returned to the Nuggets’ lineup after missing 10 games with a fractured thumb and contributed 15 points. JaVale McGee had 13 points and six rebounds. Andre Miller added six points and 12 assists.

Gallinari talked about a scathing film session on Monday morning.

“The general message was to get on the same page,” Gallinari said. “Everybody just tried to be on the same page, especially on defense because our defense has not been very good in the last (few) games. Just being ready and focused on our concepts.”

The Nuggets improved to 31-26 and pulled into a tie with the idle Dallas Mavericks, who are seventh in the West. Yet the Nuggets remain the eighth seed because they lost the season series 3-1 to the Mavs. It’s a recurring theme that hangs over the Nuggets, who must finish with better a record than many of the teams they’re battling in order to have improved playoff position. Ties will simply not do.

“My whole point this morning was sometimes my team tries to be spectacular,” Karl said. “They try to be fancy, they try to be cute. Just play solid, smart basketball and you’ll win a lot of basketball games. We need to get more comfortable with solid, not spectacular.”

For one night, at least, Karl’s team did just that.

Christopher Dempsey: 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com

Nuggets Recap

What you might have missed

Nuggets forward Al Harrington went to the locker room at the end of the third quarter and did not return. … The Nuggets outrebounded Golden State 60-27 and had massive numbers in points in the paint (70), second-chance points (20), and fast-break points (32). …The big lead allowed the Nuggets to rest heavy-minute starteing point guard Ty Lawson, who played just 21 minutes. … The Nuggets’ 123 points matched a season high.

Final thought

Nice bounce-back win for a Nuggets team that needed a victory.

Up next

Vs. Minnesota, 7 p.m. Wednesday

Christopher Dempsey, The Denver Post