Sports, Playoffs, and Winning
The best team always wins the playoff game/series.
Possible refutations:
1. The refs interfered and caused the other team to win. (Commonly known as the "refs sucked" excuse.)
2. The other team got hot and stole the win.
3. The other team got lucky.
1. The refs never decide a game/series.
a. You may rebut--but they called 40 fouls on my team and 10 on the other. This statement means nothing because it's a comparison of two disparate items: the teams did not do the same things over the course of the game. So this line of reasoning is absurd.
b. They bailed out player-X from the other team, giving him free throws / foul shots / penalty yards, when the defender was in perfect position. This may seem reasonable but firstly you weren't there and secondly your biased. Thirdly, you may be right because the referees aren't perfect, but they do their very best to call a close and honest game, regardless of the external factors. I would bet that you could talk to fans on the other side and they would point out all of the calls that were controversial but helpful to you.
c. Losing teams (and fans) always blame the refs. They are the most visible and easiest to complain about. Good teams play within the flow of the game and win in spite of environmental factors going against them.
2. The other team got lucky and stole the win.
My first question would be: why did your team put themselves in a position to lose if they're really so good? Better teams beat worse teams. Period. If your team allowed the other team to stay close, then they deserved to lose. In the end, they simply were not the best team on the court that night.
3. The other team got hot and made their shots.
Well, that's partial observation and partial commentary. You would be correct in saying they made their shots, but this concept of "getting hot" has more basis in commentary. The fact of the matter is that the other team scored more points than your team did, and resorting to some mythological concept of hotness to explain your defeat only indicates how desperate you are to find a reason for losing.
Conclusions
Good teams win. Bad teams don't. If your team loses the 7-game series, it's because you didn't play as well as the other team. There are external factors like refs, but great teams never lose because of the refs. Great teams play through the controversias calls and make the plays to win the game.
Mainly though, fans make excuses and put the blame on something other than their beloved team, when, in the end, it's their team that lost....not anyone else.