Celtics guard Marcus Smart is looking forward to facing Trae Young when Boston begins its first round playoff series against the Hawks on Saturday.

Smart and Young, whose rivalry goes back to their Big 12 days, have a history of chippy matchups — with their most recent matchup turning physical when the Celtics beat the Hawks 134-125 at State Farm Arena last month.

The 2022 Defensive Play of the Year, Smart reflected on the altercation in an interview with The Post — and explained why he won’t change his approach to guarding Young and Atlanta’s offense.

“There is no way I would change my approach to the game,” Smart said on behalf of Pronamel for the launch of their new toothpaste, Pronamel Active Shield. “But no, me and Trae, we’re cool. I’ve known Trae for a long time, obviously we go back to the Big 12 days.

“He’s a great player. We all know that Trae has done some awesome things in this league, and he’s going to continue to do some awesome things in this league.”

Smart and Young got tangled up after a fiery exchange in the final minutes of a March 11 matchup.

With 1:26 remaining and Atlanta trailing Boston, 129-121, Young hit a bank shot and drew contact from Smart, which sparked a scuffle between the two.

They got in each other’s faces before they fell to the floor and had to be separated by both teams.

Referees called a foul on Smart, who was ejected for the incident — while Young received a technical foul. 

“It was a heated moment between two competitors and I think it kind of got a little bit over shine because of me being who I am as a defensive player and I guess my reputation as a guy who is very tough or whatever you want to say,” Smart said.

“So when me and Trae kind of got into it, at first we were just talking and then obviously we got tangled up. When everybody ran over, it caused more of an effect than it should have because then we lose our footing and because we’re tangled up and me being obviously the bigger person, he’s going to have more impact than I am and I’m going to generate more impact towards him, so it’s going to look like that.

Smart went on to say that the incident with Young is behind him, and that both he is looking forward to a rematch on Saturday.

“Like I said, I don’t play this game to hurt anybody, and it was just a moment where two competitors had a competitive moment,” Smart said.

“But I know Trae’s looking forward to this matchup. I’m definitely looking forward to and it’s going to be a good one.”

Smart said he had a feeling the Celtics would face the Hawks in the first round, even before Atlanta’s upset over the Heat, 116-105 in the Eastern Conference play-in game on Tuesday.

“To be honest, I did,” Smart said, smiling. “They were playing against a team who was very great in the Heat… everybody’s seen a stat where the Heat have beaten the Hawks, I think ten out of the last 11 games. The play-in is just like March Madness. All you have to do is play good for one game. One game. It doesn’t matter. Just one game…. And that’s what that’s what playoff basketball is all about.”

Smart is averaging 11.5 points on 41.5 percent shooting, 3.1 rebounds and 6.3 assists following a NBA Finals run with the Celtics last season.

In June 2022, the Warriors knocked off the Celtics in six games to capture their fourth NBA title in the last eight seasons.

Smart said he refuses to let last year’s ouster hinder his mentality heading into the postseason.

“I’m not going to let our failures, and the lessons we’ve learned take away my confidence,” he said.

“That was my message to myself and the team — we’re not going to lose our confidence. If anything, it should give us more confidence because we know what it takes. We went through it. Now we’ve just got to actually just get over it. Just go ahead and jump over the hill… We also know that this is a special moment that we might never get again, so we want to seize the opportunity to the best that we can.

“And that was really it for us and for me personally, because after that [Game 6 loss], we were down. We were all down and just didn’t want to go down even farther than where we were.”

Smart, who last played on April 4 at Philadelphia, missed Boston’s final three regular-season games due to a neck issue.

The 29-year-old guard said he feels confident about his health going into the postseason.