When the Chicago Sky entered the United Center, they had just eight players available. But even then, the team managed to pull off a few small wins, putting up 78 points, including a season-high 26 from Rachel Banham, and a strong first-half run from Kamilla Cardoso, who responded to her coach’s challenge with 12 points and seven rebounds before the break. But that momentum didn’t last. And that’s surprising, especially considering she’s the same player who, according to Aliyah Boston, is “pretty hard to stop” because of “her size and her length.” So what went wrong? Well, one Fever defender certainly made it look effortless, but fans have an even better answer.

It all came as Cardoso, who was trying to adapt to new offensive zones in the absence of Angel Reese, had been working to get “comfortable with being in different areas of the floor.” While her teammates helped her execute the new strategy, she faced an all-too-familiar obstacle, one that nearly every WNBA player has complained about at some point. Yes, we’re talking about the referees and their inconsistent foul calls.

Cardoso’s moment came early in the first quarter. She grabbed a pass, took a dribble, and drove to the basket as Natasha Howard chased her from behind. As Cardoso bent for a dribble, Howard jumped directly onto her back, placing her hands on Cardoso’s shoulders and using her to stop her own momentum.

A foul, right? Not really, as it went completely uncalled, and by the end of the game, Cardoso had two personal fouls while Howard had only one. Well, that’s unexpected, considering Howard is a veteran forward known for her physical defense and versatility, traits that naturally come with foul risk. Her 2.8 foul rate shows she often ends up in challenging defensive matchups. But while the refs may have missed the foul, fans definitely didn’t.

Cardoso’s run from foul trouble to fan fury!

Keeping with tradition, fans jumped into the comment section—and for once, even Fever fans weren’t biased as they called out their own team in the name of fairness. “Fever fan here, yes that was a foul,” penned one spectator. Yes, the same Fever fans that Angel Reese once launched an investigation against are proving themselves supportive when it matters. But this isn’t the first time Cardoso has found herself in a similar situation. “This is egregious,” wrote another fan.

Let’s rewind to when the Sky improved to 2-4 after defeating the Dallas Wings, 94–83. After scoring a career-high 23 points in a previous game, Cardoso had just four points in that one, playing only 15 minutes due to foul trouble as she was given 5 personal fouls. Sounds familiar, right? Even during this recent game, she went scoreless for the second half. But last time, Cardoso had Angel, who was out for the recent game due to an injury.

Well, HC puts it better when he shared, “I thought Angel did a great job tonight, offensively and defensively, as well as E-Will picking up the minutes for Kamilla as she was in foul trouble,” Marsh had said back then. And yes, he was right. So, right from the beginning, it’s Cardoso who’s been getting into foul troubles due to her big size, but this time it was different. “That ref hates our bigs…” shared another frustrated fan.

That brought back memories of what Angel Reese called a “special whistle”. All that went down last year, against the Fever itself when Reese could not tolerate the bias any further. “For inside, I think we were playing really hard. I think we went up really strong a lot of times and we didn’t get a lot of calls,” Reese said in the postgame press conference. “And going back into looking at the film, I’ve seen a lot of calls that weren’t made. I guess some people got a special whistle.” In that game too, Cardoso had 5 personal fouls.

But, this year, the issues is plaguing almost every team every other day.

“Somehow they all have the worst whistle in the league,” another fan vented. Remember the Fever’s game against the Connecticut Sun when five technicals were handed out? Refs saw the scratching, pushing, and jostling happening throughout the game, but nothing was called until it exploded: an eye poke by Jacy Sheldon to Caitlin Clark, Marina Mabrey shoving CC to the ground, Sophie Cunningham wrapping Jacy around the neck to stop a layup.

Even AB has seen this too, especially in a game where her move was called a foul, but when Brittney Griner made the same move, it wasn’t. And Kelsey Plum? She has not held back any words when speaking against the officiating, calling the fouls ‘ticky tacky’. Meanwhile, Sophie was fined $500 just for making a TikTok about the refs. So yes, it’s already out there. However, now, since the refs are paying no heed, fans are turning angry with the coaching staff for not being more aggressive: “The refs and the coach are horrible—why isn’t Tyler screaming in the ref’s ear about this play?”

Well, the truth is—the first-year head coach was focused elsewhere. His task? Making sure Cardoso stayed on the floor as the Fever made strategic adjustments to push her off the block, forcing her to catch the ball farther from her comfort zone. “The days of just sitting her on the block and throwing it in, those days are over,” Marsh explained. And that shift proved to be both physically and mentally draining for the sophomore forward, who hesitated to go ahead with the shots. “We’re like, ‘No, Mil, we don’t want it back. We trust you down there,’” said Rachel Banham. “We’re just trying to stay on her, like, ‘Don’t give it up. Go at them.’” So yes, that’s how the game went for Cardoso and the Sky. But when it comes to the refs? That story is still unfolding!