Witness: Thomas loved, hated accuser

(New York - WABC, September 18, 2007) (WABC) -- A former New York Knicks employee testified on Tuesday that just months after berating her in expletive-filled tirades, Knicks coach and president Isiah Thomas moved from cursing to courting a fellow executive now suing for sexual harassment.

Jeffrey Nix, a 15-year employee, took the stand in U.S. District Court to recount a series of conversations he had with his friend and co-worker, plaintiff Anucha Browne Sanders, throughout 2004.

Browne Sanders detailed how Thomas initially treated her with contempt shortly after his December 2003 arrival in New York, Nix told the court.

At one meeting meant to resolve any issues between Browne Sanders and Thomas, the two-time NBA champion guard lashed out at her by announcing, "Don't forget, you f------ bitch, I'm the president of this f------- team," Nix said his friend told him.

Browne Sanders also told Nix, he testified, that Thomas had asked her in March 2004, "What the f--- is your job? What are your job responsibilities, you f------- ho?"

By the end of the year, though, Nix testified that he saw Thomas embracing Browne Sanders in Madison Square Garden after a Knicks' victory - and watched as his friend pushed the coach away.

"You're not going to believe what he just said. ... He just said, `I'm in love with you. It's like (the movie) `Love and Basketball'" Nix quoted Browne Sanders as saying.

Browne Sanders is suing Isiah Thomas and Madison Square Garden for $10 million in a sexual harassment suit that also seeks reinstatement to the job that she held for five years.

Attorneys for Browne Sanders rested their case Tuesday afternoon after calling the plaintiff's sister, Ruth, and her ex-administrative assistant to buttress her claims. They also played a videotaped deposition from MSG Chairman James Dolan, who said the decision to fire Browne Sanders was his alone.

Asked if it was appropriate for MSG employees to refer to co-workers as a "black bitch," as star Knicks guard Stephon Marbury allegedly did to Browne Sanders, Dolan quickly said it was not.

"It is also not appropriate to murder anyone. ... I don't know that that has happened either," Dolan said.

Thomas, who has denied the allegations, sat with his hands folded in front of his face at the defense table, tilted his head slightly and listened intently as Nix testified. Nix, who held a variety of bench and front office jobs with the Knicks, was let go by the Thomas regime at the end of August.

The defense case, with Thomas expected to testify at some point, should begin Wednesday morning.

Nix said Browne Sanders was upset and confused by Thomas' switch from verbally abusive to amorous. When the two spoke in spring 2005, Nix recalled Browne Sanders telling him, "It went from last year bitch and ho to now he's in love with me."

Browne Sanders, a married mother of three and former Northwestern basketball star, joined the Knicks in late 2000. The vice president of marketing and business operations was fired in January 2006; she claimed the dismissal came after she complained to MSG management.

The Garden claims she was dismissed for a failure to "fulfill professional responsibilities."

Nix appeared one day after jurors watched a videotaped deposition where Thomas insisted that he had never cursed at the plaintiff. During the questioning, Thomas also said he would find it more offensive if a white male called a black female a "bitch," than if a black male made the same comment.

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