The Knicks know the slate is wiped clean after defeating the Atlanta Hawks in all three meetings during the regular season, but those games clearly left a strong impression on their first-round playoff opponent.

There will be time for bad blood later, but Hawks coach Nate McMillan and his players were nothing but complimentary when asked about Tom Thibodeau, Julius Randle and the fourth-seeded Knicks during Tuesday’s media availability ahead of Sunday’s playoff opener at the Garden.

McMillan, who posted a 27-11 record after taking over for fired coach Lloyd Pierce in March, acknowledged he sees the same defensive identity in this Knicks squad that he did with Thibodeau’s previous teams in Chicago and Minnesota.

“I think so, absolutely,” McMillan said in a Zoom call after practice when asked about his Knicks counterpart. “Defensively they make you work, they are physical, and they want to play a grind game. You’re going to have guard late into the possessions against this team.

“They’re going to be physical with you on the defensive end of the floor. I think it’s really similar to his past teams, he even has some of the guys he worked with early in his career, like [Derrick] Rose and [Taj] Gibson. So absolutely, I think they take on Thibs’ identity.”

While McMillan added the Knicks’ No. 1 ranked defense was a common thread during Atlanta’s three head-to-head losses, his team also allowed 124 points per game to New York in the season series.

“We really did not do a good job of defending this team this season,” McMillan said. “And we know they are the No. 1 defense. They are physical on the defensive end. And we’re going to have to play through that, execute against a tough, physical defense.”

McMillan also stressed that the Hawks have to “stop the Knicks, not one player,” though he acknowledged Randle “had his way with us” during the regular season. Hawks forward John Collins also referred to Randle, who averaged 37 points in three head-to-head wins, as “the head of the snake” for the Knicks.

“Obviously, the guy’s having a great year, a hell of a year, making a lot of tough shots,” Collins said. “He’s obviously worked on his game a ton, so it’s a matter of understanding for us what spaces and shots he shoots the ball in, and what we need to do as a team to force him into taking even tougher shots than he’s taking now … and not give him anything easy, as routine as that sounds. He’s making a lot of tough shots right now, so it’s on us to make it tougher.”

Added McMillan: “I don’t think it’s just stopping Randle, because they all have played well against us. Of course, Randle has been the main guy, and he is certainly the difference in what they are doing this season, but they have guys like Rose who has played well against us, [Immanuel] Quickley, [RJ] Barrett, those guys like [Reggie] Bullock, all of those guys have played well against us. So it’s not just one guy. It’s stopping the Knicks. If you guys want to look at, ‘If you stop Randle, you stop the Knicks,’ we don’t really look at it that way.”