On the road for the first time this season without Jamal Murray, the Nuggets suffered the second loss of their title defense Sunday, falling 107-104 to the feisty Rockets in Houston.

Denver (8-2) returns home to face the Clippers on Tuesday night in an in-season tournament game.

Depth woes, illuminated

Since Murray’s injury a week ago, Denver’s bench has been strained and out of sync, shaken out of its strong start to the season. Detractors of the defending champions often identify their questionable depth as the Achilles’ heel, and it was easy to see why Sunday night.

While Nikola Jokic, Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon combined for 77 points on 30-of-55 shooting, the rest of the team scored 27 points on 36 shot attempts. The bench was outscored 31-8 by Houston’s, and after three quarters, the only backup who had cracked the scorebook was Collin Gillespie, a two-way contract point guard who isn’t even supposed to be part of Denver’s regular 10-man lineup.

Gillespie’s work ethic has been commendable with Murray out — he finished with six points, two rebounds, three assists and two steals Sunday — but the usual bench players are struggling. Christian Braun has disappeared for stretches offensively, and when he ended up with the ball under the basket on a key last-minute possession Sunday, he didn’t know where to go with it. Braun has 10 total points in the three games without Murray.

As if to rub in the point about Denver’s bench deficiency, ex-Nugget Jeff Green scored 15 including a pair of huge 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to extend Houston’s lead to 10 the first time and nine the second time.

Late last Wednesday night, after his wobbly last 45 seconds against Golden State, Nikola Jokic was asked what he planned to do with Denver’s three off days and answered that he hoped the weather would stay warm enough for one more pool day. He and his fellow starters were running on fumes down the stretch that night.

So what does Jokic look like after a much-needed rest? A 16-point first quarter to carry his team to a 30-23 lead. As the game went on, he wasn’t looking to be as consistently physical in the paint against Alperen Sengun, the 21-year-old from Turkey whose game is modeled after Jokic’s. But still, the two-time MVP went for 36 points, 21 rebounds and 11 assists in the same building where he registered his 100th career triple-double last season.

The Nuggets entered this game ranked second-to-last in the NBA in free throw attempts per game (18.2), and they got to the line for only 14 attempts against the Rockets (eight of which were Jokic). An offense so reliant on ball movement to create shots is inherently less likely to earn a ton of foul shots, but Murray’s absence can also be felt when the team is less aggressive.

Denver was credited with only three fast-break points as well, a strange lack of transition assertiveness after such a long rest. The game-deciding play was a passive and sloppy lapse in inbound execution. Trailing by three with 14 seconds left after a late rally, Reggie Jackson’s side-out pass was intercepted by Jae’Sean Tate after Nuggets didn’t come around screens cleanly enough to get open. Porter made himself susceptible to get pickpocketed on the entry pass.