Less total minutes on their legs once the playoffs start>>>>
It was so densely scheduled though, that the players wouldn’t have had time during the season to rest. Guys were damn near playing every night. Look at the 2011-12 season, and they had an extra 5-6 weeks for the whole season to play out. Basically everyone was hurt by the playoffs. Like
@mastermind just said, all those back to back to back and 4 games in 5 nights run you into the ground.
They likely could have, and this is one of the reasons why Jerry Krause (RIP) was one of the most hated men in Chicago

He deliberately destroyed that team because of his ego. Talmbout "I don't care if we go 82-0 and win the title, I'm breaking up this team

"
We won’t ever hear a quote that better captures an out of control ego from an executive than “I don’t care if it’s 82-0. After this season, you’re fukking gone.” It’s amazing looking back at it.
"Organizations Win Championships"
To an extent I actually agree with this. Everyone from the roster, to the coaching staff, to the training staff, to the front office all contribute. It’s a real short list of poorly run franchises that win it all. Since Michael came back from baseball, the only team to do it was the 2016 cavaliers. After that the worst was the 2004 pistons, and Dumars was doing a good job at that point.