Nervous Knicks star Stephon Marbury took the stand today in the explosive $10 million sex-harassment suit that's rocking the Garden and admitted he lured one of the female accuser's subordinates into his car.

Marbury did not say explicitly they had sex as they sat parked outside a Manhattan strip joint, as fired Knick exec Anucha Browne Sanders has claimed.

"We got together right across the street," Marbury testified in Manhattan Federal court.

The point guard made the admission after Browne Sanders, who claims Knicks coach Isiah Thomas fired her in January 2006 for daring to hire a lawyer, broke down on the stand for the first time in the bruising trial.

Browne Sanders grew weepy as she described how the intern, a St. Johns University student named Kathleen Decker, was subjected to a filthy come-on by Marbury's cousin, Hassan Gonsalves. Browne Sanders said Decker told her she later wound up in Marbury's car and the two had sex.

"Anucha, if it was anyone else I would have walked away," Decker said, according to Browne Sanders. "I felt like I had to."

Wiping away tears, Browne Sanders added, "She basically did whatever he asked her to do. She considered it to be consensual because she agreed to get in the car."

Dressed in a cream-colored plaid jacket with a red hankie sticking out of his breast pocket, Marbury fidgeted and avoided looking at Browne Sanders as he sat hunched over the microphone.

Marbury said he did not know that Decker, who was at the strip club celebrating her birthday with friends, was drunk during their encounter in April 2005. He was prevented from getting into the salacious details by the judge.

Marbury admitted calling Browne Sanders a "bitch" after she refused to give him more game tickets for his friends and family.

"She told me that this is not Phoenix or New Jersey, we're not doing things like that here," Marbury said, referring to the places where previously played professional basketball.

Afterward, as Marbury raced to a blue Rolls-Royce trailed by reporters, he called the trial a "tough situation" and refused to speculate on the possible outcome. "It's not for me to judge," he said.

Marbury tried to change the subject by making fun of the reporters' ties and shoes, noting that he was wearing expensive tan lace-ups, then drowning out the pesky questions by breaking into song.

"I got some new Starburys that are coming out," Marbury said before disappearing, a pitch for his reasonably-priced basketball shoes.

Earlier, Browne Sanders, a 44-year-old former Northwestern University basketball star who is the Knicks' former marketing vice-president, described how Gonsalves allegedly harassed Decker in Nov. 2005.

"You look good in those pants," Gonsalves allegedly said, according to Sanders. "I bet that p---y looks good too."

Browne Sanders said that Decker told her about the sleazy incident and later admitted, "I didn't tell you everything." Then she related the story of her encounter with Marbury.

Decker said Marbury and Gonsalves were also at the strip club where she was celebrating her birthday and that — over the objections of her friends — she accepted a ride back to St. Johns from Gonsalves.

Decker, according to Browne Sanders, said that when she climbed out of Gonsalves' vehicle Marbury pulled up in his and said, "Are you getting in, or not?"

Browne Sanders said she told Garden President Steve Mills about the encounter between Marbury and Decker and complained that she heard from others that Marbury had called her a "black bitch."

"I want you to make it stop," Browne Sanders said she told Mills.

Mills, Browne Sanders testified, warned her that if she didn't stay quiet Thomas would start rumors she was having an affair with MSG executive Jeff Nix.

"Steve, is that a threat?" Browne Sanders, a married mother of three, claims she told Mills. "Do I need to find a lawyer?"

In earlier testimony, Browne Sanders said Thomas, a two time NBA champ and Hall of Famer, was a foul-mouthed bully who hampered her efforts to get players to turn out for corporate events. She said that when she complained about Thomas's tirades to Mills, he told her to "accommodate him."

Browne Sanders also testified that Thomas made her feel uncomfortable by telling her "I'm in love with you" after beating her in a game of horse. Garden lawyer Ronald Green told jurors Browne Sanders lied about sex harrassment.

Posted by bigbeast:

I understand the girl is an intern....but who really loses credibility here as far as this case is concerned? Celebrating a birthday in a Strip-Club, with Steph and his supposed foul-mouthed cousin aint a good look for the girl. Add to that she had no problems getting into the car. Again, not a good look for the girl either.

Posted by TrueBlue:

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by bigbeast:

I understand the girl is an intern....but who really loses credibility here as far as this case is concerned? Celebrating a birthday in a Strip-Club, with Steph and his supposed foul-mouthed cousin aint a good look for the girl. Add to that she had no problems getting into the car. Again, not a good look for the girl either.

She had no choice but to get into the car with the sexual predator. That's the point. She knew the way things were/are at MSG and she got caught up in it.

Starbury should be put away. He's no better than Mike Tyson.

At least our "young core" has a bunch of good role model veterans


AND LOL @ anyone wearing and any parent who bought and anyone intending on buying a pair of Starburies.

Marbury: Sexual harassment lawsuit against Thomas 'a joke'
Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Knicks guard Stephon Marbury testified Wednesday in the case of a fired team executive who has accused coach Isiah Thomas of sexual harassment, calling the lawsuit absurd while downplaying an encounter with a drunken intern.

After hearing about the lawsuit brought by Anucha Browne Sanders, "I laughed," Marbury said in U.S. District Court. "It was more of a joke than anything."
Marbury admitted he once called Browne Sanders a "bitch," though he insisted, "I didn't have a reason not to like her."

Browne Sanders says she is owed her vice president position back and at least $10 million for enduring a sexually harassing workplace for five years. Her lawsuit claims she was fired "for telling the truth" about vulgarity and unwanted advances by Thomas, also a team president. Thomas has denied the allegations.

Taking the witness stand earlier Wednesday, Browne Sanders wept while telling the jury of five women and three men that Marbury and his cousins, also Madison Square Garden employees, were part of the problem.

The plaintiff cited a conversation with an MSG intern who confided that she was having a relationship with one of the cousins and had gotten drunk on an outing to a Manhattan strip club in April 2005 that included Marbury. The intern claimed that afterward Marbury lured her into his vehicle for sex, Browne Sanders said.

"She said she basically did whatever he asked her to do and she considered it to be consensual because she got in the car," Browne Sanders testified.

When he took the stand, Marbury admitted pulling up and asking the intern, "Are you going to get in the truck?"' He said she answered, "Yes."

U.S. District Judge Gerard E. Lynch cut off any more questioning on the encounter, saying more details wouldn't help the jury decide the case.

After Marbury finished testifying, he rode down 23 floors in a crowded elevator, saying to no one in particular: "Money makes you do crazy things, man."

Then he left the courthouse, smiling and singing a song out loud. When pressed to divulge more about his relationship with the intern, he instead commented cheerfully on a reporter's shoes.

Posted by djsunyc:

one question - why would MSG let this get to trial unless they have something on anucha, no? unless dolan really just makes one bad decision after another (in regards to the knicks at least).