You saw a pretty good basketball game if you stayed up to watch Game 2 of the NBA Western Conference finals last night. The Denver Nuggets came back from a 14-point deficit to beat the Lakers on their own floor, 106-103. Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups each played over 40 minutes; they scored 34 and 27 points, respectively.

The Nuggets really had some strange calls in their favor throughout the second half that (in my view) prevented the Lakers from pulling away; Derek Fisher missed a three at the end of the game that would have given LA a 2-0 lead tied the game at the end of regulation. But Denver hung on to even the series, and I wonder if self-appointed thug-watch advocate Mark Cuban has started referring to Denver in his internal memos as “the N_gge_s.” It’s funny because he’s a white guy from the midwest, and therefore obviously racist.

Elsewhere, the Pittsburgh Penguins jumped to a 2-0 lead in their conference final, thanks to an Evgeni Malkin hat trick as the zzzzzzzzzzzzzz…Oh, and the Minnesota Twins beat the snot out of the White Sox last night while they were waiting for the Jake Peavy train that never game, 20-1. Twins DH Joe Mauer had 112 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns.

Here’s the goal that gave Malkin the hat trick. Damn, that’s just sick.