NEW YORK — During closing arguments Thursday at the sexual harassment trial of Knicks president and coach Isiah Thomas, all sides finally found something they could agree on — someone must be lying.

Lawyers for Thomas, his accuser Anucha Browne Sanders and for Madison Square Garden all said that what has emerged from the nearly three weeks of testimony is a "he said, she said" case.

Jurors, who began deliberating the case Thursday, must decide who to believe. That might not be easy. For virtually every incident described during the trial, there are irreconcilable accounts, and for many the only people present were Browne Sanders and Thomas. The panelists were given reasons why they shouldn't believe either of them.

"Thomas' motive to lie is obvious," Anne Vladeck, one of Browne Sanders' lawyers, said, pointing out that his job would be in jeopardy if the allegations were proved true.

The former Knicks vice president of marketing had her own motives for lying, Garden lawyer Ron Green said: She was afraid she was going to be fired and thought she could get a large financial settlement.

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Browne Sanders claims Thomas, a 12-time NBA All-Star and Hall of Fame player, regularly called her a "bitch," and a "ho," sexually harassed her and then made sexual advances.

After she complained to Garden management about Thomas' behavior, she was fired in retaliation for making the allegations, Browne Sanders says. She is seeking $10 million.

Lawyers for both the Garden and Thomas deny the coach sexually harassed her. They claim she was fired because she could not do her job and because she tampered with the Garden's investigation of her harassment claims.

"It is true you have heard completely opposing views of reality," Vladeck told the jury.

She questioned Thomas' credibility by pointing out that he initially told investigators he never used any profanity while he was on the job, but admitted on the stand that he regularly cursed "around people" — including Browne Sanders — but never at them.

But Thomas was not the only one who didn't tell the truth, she said. All the Garden executives lied for their boss, to save their jobs, she said.

"Every witness called by the defense is on [Garden chairman] James Dolan's payroll," Vladeck said.

Green accused Browne Sanders and her lawyers of parading witnesses who were rehearsed.

"If you tell them all the same thing, it's easy for them to repeat it," he said.

Kathleen Bogas, one of Thomas' three female lawyers, focused her argument on discrediting Browne Sanders.

She went through a list of allegations posted on a large board. As she discounted each one, she slammed magnets with the words "no documentation" and "no proof" onto the board, covering the claim.

Despite the Garden lawyers' arguments that Browne Sanders was fired because she wasn't good at her job, Bogas said jurors had been given a taste of the accuser's marketing skills.

She fabricated her allegations and was trying to sell them in the courtroom the same way she tried to sell the Knicks to season ticket holders, Bogas said.

"She's crafted a great story here," Bogas said. "She's marketing it here now."

Browne Sanders was trying to play a whistleblower card, a race discrimination card and a sexual harassment card, the lawyer said.

"That hand is just not going to play," she said.

The lawyers also presented drastically different accounts of Browne Sanders' firing.

According to Green, Browne Sanders' poor performance at budget meetings was a "storm that was brewing," and her job was in danger for months before she was finally fired.

Green referred to Dolan's testimony that the last straw for Browne Sanders was when he heard from vice president of human resources Rusty McCormack that she was tampering with the investigation of her claims against Thomas.

Vladeck countered by showing a deposition of McCormack in which he denied ever talking to Dolan about why Browne Sanders was fired.

The allegations that Browne Sanders was pressuring other Garden employees to support her claims against Thomas were an attempt to "scramble for a cover story," she said.