#RaiseTheCat: Here's why excited Sixers fans are flooding Twitter with cat photos

After the Sixers' 94-89 win over the Raptors on Wednesday night, excited fans who packed the Wells Fargo Center chanted, "Trust the Process."

Meanwhile, fans on social media had their own chant: "Raise the cat."

In light of the Sixers' current win streak, Twitter has featured lots of photos of fans holding their feline pets high, all under the hashtag #RaiseTheCat.

Apparently, the inspiration for the hair-raising meme originated with Sixers rookie Ben Simmons, who often posts photos on Instragram and Twitter alongside his feline companions.

Dennis Grove, a rabid Sixers fan who goes by @GipperGrove on Twitter, took it from there.

"Simmons has a very rare-looking cat that climbs his shoulders and head all the time, so I was thinking about how there's no way my cat could do that," Grove said, not realizing how difficult it would be to lift his 20-pound cat, Izzy, over his head.

From there, the hashtag has taken on a life of its own with fans from across the region sharing pictures of themselves lifting their cats up high after every Sixers win, including Philly Mag scribe Dan McQuade and his cat, Detective:

"It's amazing how this has grown," Groove said. "Sixers Twitter is something special."