Familiar result: Knicks lose

Having embarrassed themselves in every other way, the New York Knicks, the NBA’s flagship franchise that plays 20 blocks from the league office, broke new ground Tuesday when a jury found against them in a sensational sexual harassment suit.

Madison Square Garden, the Knicks’ parent company, was ordered to pay $11.6 million, including $3 million from CEO James Dolan, to a female former team executive.

Knicks Coach Isiah Thomas was found to have harassed marketing VP Anucha Browne Sanders, a 44-year-old former Northwestern basketball player, but he will not have to pay any punitive damages.

MSG announced it would appeal. Thomas said he is “very innocent” and will also appeal.

Conspicuous by his silence, NBA Commissioner David Stern, who has issued months’ worth of draconian suspensions to players and referees, said nothing.

An NBA spokesman said only that league rules “don’t encompass civil litigation.” There was no statement deploring or even regretting the Knicks’ behavior.

Of course, if the New York Times’ editorial board gets too upset, anything can still happen.

Thomas is not expected to be fired by Dolan, whose obstinacy and disdain for public opinion are legendary.

After the verdict, Thomas flew to the Knicks’ training camp in Charleston, S.C., where his players backed him as if this were merely their latest distraction.

“I don’t think it’s a low point,” said elder statesman and assistant coach Herb Williams. “This is New York. Things happen.”

Lots of things happened in the Knicks’ front office alone, some of which surfaced in this trial, such as Stephon Marbury’s admission he had sex with a Knicks intern, 24-year-old Kathleen Decker, in his SUV outside a strip club.

Decker testified, too, confirming Marbury’s account. She also acknowledged that she was hired as a full-time employee only weeks before the trial.

Browne Sanders testified that Thomas made unwanted advances, called her “bitch” and “ho,” and once rejected her request to sign letters to season-ticket holders, saying, “Bitch, I don’t give a. . . about these white people.”

If Thomas’ already controversial reputation was marred, the weight of the proceedings fell on Dolan, the boss’ kid who has wreaked havoc in his Knicks tenure.

James Dolan had no experience in sports when his father, Charles, head of corporate parent Cablevision, handed him the MSG post in 2001.

The aging Knicks were in decline but putting up a fight under CEO Dave Checketts and coach Jeff Van Gundy, even making a surprise run into the 1999 Finals.

Under James, the wheels not only came off, the franchise turned into one of those cars in the circus with the clowns running out of it. The Knicks haven’t had a winning record in James’ six seasons, missing the playoffs in five.

In 2005 Dolan hired Larry Brown as coach, gave him a five-year, $55 million contract and fired him after one season, angered more by his candor than his 23-59 record.

With Stern arbitrating, Brown got a $17 million settlement after a two-month standoff while the Knicks looked for breaches of contract, such as the fact that Brown gave roadside interviews without a team official there.

Of course, the team officials had been busy calling the police to kick the press off the practice facility premises.

No Knicks official would comment for weeks but Dolan did make an appearance, playing guitar at a local club with his blues band, JD & the Straight Shot.

All that was innocent fun compared with this case, which Dolan refused to even consider settling.

The suit was seen as an embarrassment for the Knicks but one difficult to prove because of the he-said, she-said nature of the evidence.

Dolan made his first appearance in the video of his deposition that showed him dressed informally in a sweater, slumping in his chair. Asked about the allegation that Thomas called Browne Sanders a “bitch,” Dolan answered:

“It’s not appropriate. It’s also not appropriate to murder anyone. I don’t know if that’s happened here.”

Whether because of the facts, because Browne Sanders was a sympathetic figure or MSG officials were unsympathetic, the atmosphere changed when U.S. District Judge Gerard E. Lynch gave the jury instructions as pointed as an arrow.

“This is a case where you could find there is retaliation [by the Knicks against Browne Sanders],” Lynch told the jury, “rather nasty, deliberate retaliation at that.”

The judge also noted the jury would be well within its rights to find that the process in which Anucha Browne Sanders was fired “was a sham. . . . This is a case where there is a real basis for disbelieving this process.”

Alluding to a discrepancy between Dolan’s testimony and that of an MSG employee, Lynch said, “The jury could find that Mr. Dolan was outright lying about this.”

Stern has reportedly tried to help Dolan with low-key suggestions that he hire someone such as former Phoenix Suns owner Jerry Colangelo, which Dolan didn’t take as a compliment.

Nevertheless, there is one thing Stern can do to keep from ever being embarrassed by his hometown team again.

Move.

mark.heisler@latimes.com

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Tuesday’s ruling

* The case: Anucha Browne Sanders in January filed a suit seeking $10 million in punitive damages, alleging she was sexually harassed by Knicks Coach Isiah Thomas and the owners of the team and that she was

wrongfully terminated from her $260,000-a-year job as vice

president for marketing.

* The verdict: After a three-week trial, Thomas was found guilty of harassment but was not ordered to pay any damages. Madison Square Garden and Chief Executive James Dolan were also found guilty of harassing Browne Sanders and ordered to pay $11.6 million in punitive damages to the 44-year-old former executive. The Garden owes $6 million for condoning a hostile work environment and $2.6 million for retaliation. Dolan owes $3 million. The verdict also means the judge will determine and award compensatory damages in the coming weeks. Madison Square Garden said it will appeal.

* Key testimony: The jurors had heard Browne Sanders testify that Thomas, after arriving as new team president, routinely addressed her as “bitch”

and “ho” in outbursts over marketing commitments. He later did an abrupt about-face, declaring his love and suggesting an “off-site” liaison,

she said. Thomas, while admitting to

using foul language around the

plaintiff, insisted he never directed

it toward her.

* In quotes:

Browne Sanders: “What I did here, I did for every working woman in America. And that includes everyone who gets up and goes to work in the morning, everyone working in a corporate environment.”

Thomas: “I’m innocent, I’m very innocent, and I did not do the things she has accused me in this courtroom of doing. . . . I’m extremely disappointed that the jury did not see the facts in this case. I will appeal this, and I remain confident in the man that I am and what I stand for and the family that I have.”

Madison Square Garden’s statement: “We believe that the jury’s decision was incorrect. We look forward to presenting our arguments to an appeals court, and believe they will agree that no sexual harassment took place and MSG acted properly.”

From the Associated Press