The players had to rest and the medical team was concerned that someone would get hurt by the end of the season after the season was over they expected players to try harder for the playoffs.
After all, in the playoffs the intention was that the team played each game as if it were the last one because it could even be if they lost, the players knew that the Los Angeles Lakers fans expected them to win the NBA title and so the pressure was greater.
Of course, this could be bad for players because if they won all games and advanced to the final they could play up to 26 games if they didn't win all games, and at least they would play 15 games if they won all games.
If they played as many games as they would have to play more than half of the game season to win the playoffs and win the NBA title, that also worried the team doctors and coach Kurt Rambis, after all, it was common for some player to get hurt in playoff games because of the intensity of the games.
