MSG analysts network

Before this season, Alan Hahn and Wally Szczerbiak knew each other primarily as sportswriter and subject. But the MSG studio analysts have become fast friends – helped by a regular carpool to the Garden for most Knicks games.

Hahn, who lives in Holbrook, and Szczerbiak, who lives in Cold Spring Harbor, meet at a mutually convenient park and ride and alternate driving in from there, taking advantage of HOV lanes – and bonding.

Hahn said he was joking when he first suggested the carpool, but Szczerbiak quickly agreed to it.

Could Szczerbiak have imagined during his decade in the NBA he would someday commute to work with a former Newsday sportswriter? “It is better than driving alone, that’s the way I look at it,’’ he said. “On top of it, we’re being environmentally conscious.’’

Thanks to his playing career, Szczerbiak could afford to “take a helicopter’’ if he chose to, as Hahn put it. But the analysts agreed the carpool has helped make them a better team.

Said Hahn: “When we don’t drive in together, the shows aren’t as good.’’