The sexual harassment case against Knicks coach and president Isiah Thomas is getting ugly again, and we haven't even gotten to trial yet.

With the dismissive swat of a handwritten order, U.S. District Judge Gerard E. Lynch rejected an effort by Anucha Browne Sanders' attorneys to obtain past tax returns for Thomas, Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan and other MSG executives.

"Plaintiff's belated efforts to reopen discovery related to this issue, nearly six months after the close of discovery and less than a month before trial, is without merit," Lynch scrawled at the bottom of a court document in rejecting the request, perhaps signifying his dwindling patience with a case that is only getting more contentious.

Browne Sanders' tax returns are at issue in the lawsuit because it was determined that she had thousands of dollars in erroneous deductions in 2003 and 2004 and may have been running an outside business, in violation of MSG policy.