FNQ wrote:So they dont require intensity, game prep schemes, concentration in the regular season?
The only difference is there are no bad teams to punt around.
I'm really surprised to see you challenge the idea that teams prepare better and adjust a lot more over course of a series on both offense and defense, just as players pick up their intensity compared to the regular season because the games are more important. Opposing players also learn more about your tendencies, just as you can try to pick up those nuances to gain small advantages. Not to mention that officiating is a bit different and the pressure to perform well is certainly higher as the stakes go up. 
All of this seems rather obvious, as does the idea that learning to better deal with those differences all requires exposure and experience (something not at all limited to sports either). You'll also always hear players and coaches talk about the unique playoff experience and how you can't simulate the playoffs in the regular season, just as you can't simulate an NBA game in practice no matter how hard you play. Or you'll hear players talk about having to figure it out in the playoffs over time, and you'll see players having their playoff-peak well after they had their regular season peak because they had and needed time to develop that necessary resilience.
Of course they could all be lying or be under illusions, and the playoffs aren't actually different in any meaningful way from Game X during the regular season – I just don't see any reason to actually believe that, and you haven't really provided a convincing answer as to why I should doubt that the playoffs are indeed different in a number of ways.