A 76ers fan somehow slept through a portion of Philadelphia’s 116-108 Game 4 win over the Heat on Sunday night.
Late in the third quarter of a tight game, TNT cameras caught the man snoozing in his seat at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, where the Sixers ultimately tied the Eastern Conference semifinals series at 2-2.
The fan joined Miami in taking an “L” on Sunday, as his court-side seat likely wasn’t cheap.
After he was caught slouching in his seat with his mouth wide-open, many critics had assumed he had too much to drink. But according to the sleeping fan, he was “just taking a cat nap.”
“This is unprecedented,” David Kelleher told KYW Newsradio, a local Philadelphia station. “I mean this is all over the place. Somebody said I’m officially ‘trending on Twitter.’ There has been a lot of positive feedback. Everybody is making the assumption that I had been drinking. It’s not actually accurate… I did have a drink or two, but not a lot.”
Kelleher said his court-side snooze was a result of two things — being tired after taking a flight from Atlanta to Philadelphia after a college visit with his daughter, and eating too much at a Mother’s Day brunch.
Kelleher said he is a “huge” Sixers fan, whose “great seats” are courtesy of his “partnership” with the team.
“I saw James Harden’s three-pointers in the fourth quarter, but that one moment in time, and unbeknownst to me, was captured by the whole world,” Kelleher said. “The only thing is, I saw Charles [Barkley] say that, you know, ‘The guy is drunk.’ I guess he knows Philly fans and that’s his assumption and I know Charles can play with the best of them, but that was a little disappointing. But I just fell asleep for a quick nap. I had a sales director was with me. He nudged me, I woke up and watched the rest of the game.”
NBA Twitter still had a field day with the now-viral moment, and fans were quick to crack jokes.
The Heat host the Sixers for Game 5 on Tuesday.