[tuq]

[ QUOTE ]
i love how NBA refs wait until after the guy misses to call the foul

[/ QUOTE ]
There is a really good reason for this. Refs don't want to whistle a foul if a guy is going to hit the bucket. It stops the game, results in a foul to a player which if the other player scores is often not borderline hard enough to result in the whistle, and is generally a nice compromise. If a shot goes in the offensive player would prefer that to a foul + shots, and the defensive player would prefer that to having a foul called on him. This is a very common practice at all levels.

I've seen this happen in situations where the defensive player semi-fouled a guy taking it to the hoop and the ball goes out of bounds off the offensive player. The ref awards the ball to the offense anyway and the defender bitches. The ref says "well it's either that or it's a foul on you, which do you prefer?" Refs make a surprising amount of snap decisions which are forward thinking.