There’s Michael Corleone’s famous line from Al Pacino in The Godfather: Part III: “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” This season has been quite the opposite for the Philadelphia 76ers. We want to be invested and committed again to making this team turn things around. But then they do something to drive us away again.

We had the full experience at the weekend. On Friday, the young backcourt of Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain led the way in a win over Brooklyn. We thought, “Okay, maybe the Sixers aren’t the title contenders we promised this season, but this was fun and I can get behind this group.” Then the team fell to the Clippers on Sunday, going 125-99 -defeat turned into an absolute success.

Reinforcements will not be arriving as the Sixers face the Houston Rockets tonight, who have moved up the Western Conference ranks to 13-6 in this first quarter of the season. Joel Embiid, Paul George and Kyle Lowry all remain out for Philadelphia, while Caleb Martin is currently questionable with back soreness. With the veteran All-Stars out, much of the scoring load will remain on the M&M backcourt.

If there’s a silver lining, it’s that the Sixers have another rest advantage tonight that often worked to their advantage early in the season but didn’t take advantage of it. The Rockets were in Minnesota last night and played 53 minutes in a 117-111 overtime win.

Houston has the second-best defensive rating in the league behind Oklahoma City. The vets they brought in last year, Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks, are still doing their thing. Tari Eason, Amen Thompson and Jabari Smith Jr. are all long-limbed, athletic young players who cover a ton of ground on that side of the court. To predict that things could get ugly for a Sixers offense that has often looked confused and is considered one of the league’s worst is putting it mildly.

The Rockets’ athleticism is evident on the other end of the court when it comes to creating second opportunities, as Houston ranks third in the league in offensive rebound percentage. They won’t scorch the Nets, as the Rockets are one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the NBA (yes, the Sixers were worse). Brooks is having a career year at 40.6 percent, but that’s about it. High-volume players like VanVleet and Jalen Green are just over 30 percent. Rookie max-extender receiver Alperen Sengun leads the team with averages of 18.5 points along with 10.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. Last night he recorded a triple-double in a win over the Wolves. The Sixers have been playing a little ball lately with Guerschon Yabusele at center, and I’m excited to see how this lineup performs against Sengun.

Houston isn’t considered a particularly good opponent for Philadelphia, as the Rockets have the length and athleticism to make life difficult for Maxey and McCain on offense. Plus, there’s the whole “The Sixers played like absolute horse crap most of the time” thing to consider. Let’s hope the Rockets are spared having to go to overtime and get on a plane in the middle of the night to fly to Philadelphia for this game. Maybe we’ll have a repeat of last Friday and our smiling assassins can work a little magic.

Update: 5:29 p.m. ET.

The Sixers have officially ruled out Caleb Martin for Wednesday’s game against the Rockets. In his pre-game media release, Nick Nurse confirmed that the back pain was due to the fall in last Friday’s win over Brooklyn and that nothing else was the cause.

While Sister said Martin has persevered and is in “significant pain,” Martin is still on a daily basis and doesn’t expect to be out for long.

It will be a while before the starting lineup is officially announced, but Nurse said he expects to add Andre Drummond to the starting lineup. This moves Guerschon Yabusele into the group of four with the expected backcourt of Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain and Kelly Oubre Jr.

Game details

WHO: Philadelphia 76ers vs. Houston Rockets
When: 7:00 p.m. ET
Where: The Center, Philadelphia, PA
Regard: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic
Consequences: @LibertyBallers