Not a single team in today's game has EVER faced a defense like the late 80s Pistons or early 90s Knicks. The modern rules don't allow it. Period.
You brush off handchecking like it's irrelevant. That tells me you're probably young. The point of bringing that up is it is a palpable example of how differently defense was allowed to be played back then. When you played a team like those Knicks I've referenced, you had players like Oakley and McDaniel and Starks who literally had their hands on you the entire game. THE ENTIRE GAME. They were hand checking you 100% of the time, invading your offensive zone 100% of the time, and if you dared to drive you were probably going to have bruises on you somewhere tomorrow. None of that is allowed anymore. The NBA intentionally tweaked the rules to promote scoring. This isn't an opinion, these are facts.
Look, to each their own. If you think a team like GS would have still gone out and put 120pts up on those D's with ease, cool man, you're entitled to your opinion. But dismissing how different the game was back then, or even worse stating that defenses being faced today are way more difficult, is simply foolish.