The late foul called in Harden's favor in the first half

[Hey Yo]

Anyone notice the ref's body language during the whole play?

Starts to put his arm up to either call a foul or signal a 3PA, stops the process of putting his arm up, watches the ball go to the basket, then waits to see if it goes in, it doesn't go in and then the late whistle is heard.

It definitely looked like a blatant case of... "if it goes in I won't call it, if it misses then I'll call it.

Shady as hell.

[GimmeThat]

Would that be slightly better than calling the foul, then going to another ref to confirm it

[TheCorporation]

It happens. Playoffs is a bit different from the regular season which means if it was the regular season it would be called automatically and Harden would have a chance for a four-point play.

But in the Playoffs they'll usually let them play on since it becomes more physical.