If You Can’t Beat Them, Load Them Up On Liquor And Babes At Scores So That They Are Ineffectual The Next Day

The Post reports on a sexual harrassment suit filed against Knicks President and NBA Hall-of-Famer Isiah Thomas:

Isiah Thomas is a foul-mouthed, slobbering harasser who propositioned the Knicks’ former top marketing exec for sex — and even plotted to lure opposing teams to boozy strip joints to throw off their games, an explosive new lawsuit charges.

“I know you think I’m inappropriate, but I’m in love with you,” Knick President Thomas allegedly cooed to statuesque, then-Vice President Anucha Browne Sanders, according to her suit, which was filed in Manhattan yesterday.

But the salacious details aren’t what is interesting. Instead, check out Thomas’ inventive James-Bondish strategy to throw off visiting teams:

One source close to the Knick prez insisted that Thomas “is a happily married man — I don’t think [Sanders] was even on his radar. ”

But Sanders — a former IBM honcho with an impressive record who once helped oversee marketing for that firm’s Olympics sponsorship — charges that Thomas’ repulsive behavior wasn’t limited to her.

In October 2004, “a female employee of the Knicks told Sanders that Thomas had instructed her to flirt with certain men connected to the game and make them happy,” her suit alleges.

Then early last year, “Thomas told [her] he was pushing to get more Sunday noon games on the schedule,” the lawsuit says.

“Thomas said he was working with the concierges of the hotels frequented by the visiting teams to have the concierges direct players to certain nightclubs — including strip clubs — that Thomas had established relationships with.

“Thomas said that his plan was to induce visiting players to go to these clubs on Saturday night and get them intoxicated so that they would not be prepared to play on Sunday,” she says in the suit.

The question is whether the strategy worked. The 2004-05 Knicks went 33-49, 22-19 at home — their worst home record since the 2001-02 season.