NBA Playoffs 2012: Can the Memphis Grizzlies and the Denver Nuggets Win Game 7?

It has happened only eight times in the history of the National Basketball Association playoffs—a team trailing in a best-of-a-seven series 3-1 comes back to win the series.

The Memphis Grizzlies and the Denver Nuggets have a chance to join such an elite group. Both teams trailed 3-1 in their respective 2012 Western Conference playoff matchups: Memphis came back against the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver did the same to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Denver will try to become the 22nd team to win Game 7 on the road when the Nuggets play the Lakers at Staples Center Saturday night. The Grizzlies will host the Clippers at the FedExForum Sunday.

If the Grizzlies and Nuggets win Game 7, they will join: Boston (1968); Los Angeles Lakers (1970); Washington (1979); Boston (1981); Houston (1995); Miami (1997); Detroit (2003); and Phoenix (2006) as the ninth and tenth teams to rally from a 3-1 deficit to win the series.

Now, which of the two teams has the better chance to pull off the comeback? Conventional wisdom says go with the home team. In that case, Memphis would be the smarter pick.

The Grizzlies probably never thought they would be in position to play a seventh game, especially after blowing a 27-point second-half lead in their 99-98 loss to the Clippers. Then, Memphis dropped Games 3 and 4 on the road by a mere five points combined. However, after Friday night's 90-88 road win, the Grizzlies are sitting in the driver's seat with a Game 7 at home.

Memphis will have a sellout crowd at the Forum and Beale Street will definitely be jumping, as the Grizzlies will look to make amends for their epic Game 1 collapse. And with the Clippers' dynamic duo of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin ailing, the odds are in Memphis' favor.

The winner will face the San Antonio Spurs in Round 2.

Meanwhile, the Denver Nuggets have done the unthinkable.

Denver blew the Lakers out in Game 6 at home 113-96 to put themselves in a Game 7 on the road—where they will become only the second team in the history of the league to win a series after trailing 2-0. The Houston Rockets were the first team to accomplish the feat in 1995 after trailing the Phoenix Suns 2-0 before coming back to take the series. They also won their second straight NBA title that season over the Orlando Magic.

In the case of the Lakers, they would join Phoenix (1970 and 1995) and Philadelphia (1968 and 1981) as the only NBA teams to lose two Game 7s after leading a series 3-1.

A Denver win would not be impossible; however, it would be improbable considering everything the Nuggets have had to overcome in this series.

The abbreviated NBA season has had its share of ups and down: injuries (Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard), Metta World Peace elbowing James Harden and the players' preseason lockout. But with two Game 7s in the first round of the playoffs, the league may win over its loyal contingent of fans again.

And for the Memphis Grizzlies and the Denver Nuggets, a win in Game 7 would be a moment of epic proportions for their fans.