Nuggets bench simply isn't good enough in Game 3 loss

Those threes happened after simple screens from Ben Simmons took Watson out of the play completely, leaving Jokic to guard Harden in space. Jalen Pickett fought harder against the screens, but Harden victimized him anyway.

Head coach Ty Lue has a very specific defensive strategy for facing Jokic: Turn him into a passer. While Jokic, second in the NBA in assists this season, has delivered 35 assists in the series, he only attempted 30 shots in the Nuggets' losses in Games 2 and 3. 

The Clippers are swarming Jokic and daring him to pass to his lesser teammates. So far, they're not delivering.

The Nuggets got a whopping six points from their bench Thursday night in a game where the reserves combined to play 64 minutes. Watson was a game-low -29 in a game where the Nuggets reserves made almost no impact in any category. The bench shot 2-for-14, grabbed only six rebounds despite all those misses, delivered one steal and one assist and had more turnovers (seven) than points.

To compound the lack of bench production, Michael Porter Jr. struggled again, going 2-for-9 with seven points in 35 minutes.

Jokic is still showing that he's an amazing passer, with seven assists in the opening quarter, often spectacular ones. But too often, the targets of his passes aren't delivering.

Watson has 11 points in the three games. Pickett has four. DeAndre Jordan, somehow the Nuggets' backup center at age 36, hasn't scored. Even Porter is averaging only 8.3 points per game. (He made nearly $36M this season.)

Former Nuggets coach Michael Malone was fired near the end of the season in part because he reportedly didn't trust his young bench players. They aren't proving they've earned a lot of trust so far this series.

What can the Nuggets do? Beyond hoping they make more shots, Jokic might simply have to look for his own shot no matter what the Clippers defense does. 

If his teammates can't do anything with his passes, the Joker may need to go wild as a scorer to keep his team in this series.