But the American Airlines Center wasn’t exactly kind to Kelce, booing him when he was shown on screen.
Kelce looked stunned – whether or not he was feigning shock is up to the viewer.
When Mahomes, the suburban Dallas native was put on the jumbotron, he was met with applause and cheers.
The Chiefs quarterback got up and turned around to pump the crowd up with 12 minutes remaining in the second quarter.
This came not 24 hours after Kelce was in Dallas to watch the other tenant at the American Airlines Center: the Dallas Stars.
Dallas was hosting Edmonton in the NHL’s Western Conference Finals – with the former pee wee hockey player Kelce enjoying every moment.
Mahomes even joked at Kelce’s expense – telling him to ‘get out of my arena’.
The pair were joined by Patrick’s wife Brittany Mahomes and new Chiefs receiver Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown.
All four of them were treated to a fantastic game that went down to the wire in Dallas as the Mavericks pulled away to a 116-107 win and a commanding 3-0 series lead over Minnesota.
After the game, Mahomes tweeted, ‘Atmosphere was crazy tonight! [fire emojis] Go @dallasmavs!!!!!!’
Dallas’ Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving both dropped 33 points on the night while shooting at least 50 percent or better from the field.
Doncic even got an embrace from Kelce who caught up with the star guard at the end of the game.
Meanwhile, Minnesota was led by a 26 point effort from Anthony Edwards on a night where the Timberwolves struggled from behind the arc. Teammate Karl-Anthony Towns struggled – shooting eight 3-point attempts and missing all of them.
Dallas ended the game on a 12-3 run, winning a fifth playoff game in a row after rookie center Dereck Lively II left with a sprained neck.
Lively took an accidental shot to the back of the head from the knee of Towns.
No team in NBA playoff history has rallied from 3-0 down. Game 4 is Tuesday night in Dallas.
P.J. Washington started the decisive run with a corner 3-pointer after Doncic passed to Irving, who sent the ball to Washington.
The co-stars took over from there.
Doncic hit a shot in the lane for a four-point lead, Irving sent the crowd into a frenzy with on a falling-down jumper and Doncic found Daniel Gafford for an alley-oop dunk and a 113-105 lead with 34 seconds left after Gafford blocked Mike Conley’s layup attempt at the other end.