There’s Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone’s famous line in Godfather: Part III: “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” This season has been the exact opposite for the Philadelphia 76ers. We want to invest and ensure that this team turns the corner again. But then they do something to scare us away again.

We had the full experience over the weekend. On Friday, the young defense of Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain led the way in a win over Brooklyn. We thought, “Okay, maybe the Sixers aren’t the title hopefuls we were promised this season, but that was fun and I can get behind this group.” Then the team went out against the Clippers on Sunday and laid an absolute egg in a 125-99 loss.

There will be no reinforcements when the Sixers take on the Houston Rockets tonight, who have gone 13-6 in the Western Conference standings this first quarter of the season. Joel Embiid, Paul George and Kyle Lowry all remain out for Philadelphia, while Caleb Martin is currently questionable due to lower back pain. Much of the scoring burden will remain on the M&M backcourt with the veteran All-Stars sidelined.

If there’s a silver lining, the Sixers have another halftime advantage tonight, something that has favored them more often than not early in the season but that they haven’t taken advantage of. The Rockets were in Minnesota last night, playing 53 minutes in a 117-111 overtime victory.

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 athletic youngsters with long limbs covering a huge amount of ground on that side of the field. It’s predictable, to say the least, that things could get ugly for a Sixers offense that has often looked ridiculous and is considered one of the worst in the league.

That Rockets athleticism shows up at the other end of the court when it comes to creating second chances, as Houston ranks third in the league in offensive recovery rate. 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 even worse). Brooks is having a career year at 40.6 percent, but that’s about it. High volume lifters like VanVleet and Jalen Green are only slightly above 30 percent. Rookie Max Extension receiver Alperen Sengun leads the team in scoring, averaging 18.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. He had a triple-double in the win over the Wolves last night. The Sixers have been going small lately with Guerschon Yabusele starting at center and I’m curious to see how that lineup fares against Sengun.

Houston doesn’t profile as a great matchup for Philadelphia, with the Rockets having the length and athleticism to make life difficult for Maxey and McCain on offense. Plus, there’s the whole “the Sixers have played like absolute horse manure more often than not” to think about. Let’s hope the Rockets don’t play overtime anymore and hop on a plane in the middle of the night to come to Philadelphia for this. Maybe we’ll see a repeat of last Friday and our smiling assassins can work up a little magic.

Updated: 5:29 PM ET.

The Sixers have officially ruled out Caleb Martin for Wednesday’s game against the Rockets. In his pregame media availability, Nick Nurse confirmed that the back pain stemmed from the fall he suffered in last Friday’s win against Brooklyn, and that nothing else caused it.

While the nurse said Martin continued to play and is in “significant pain,” Martin is still active daily and doesn’t expect to be away for long.

It will be some time before the starting lineups are officially announced, but Nurse said he expects to insert Andre Drummond into the starting lineup. That moves Guerschon Yabusele to the 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 PM ET
Where: The Center, Philadelphia, PA
Watch: NBC Sports Philadelphia
Radio: 97.5 The fanatic
To follow: @LibertyBallers