You take out a reasonable 1 or 2 guard from any team and they will be in trouble. John Wall is a run of the mill PG. Without him, the Wiz had 4 wins, with him, they're over .500, and be honest, there were plenty of 71-69 games in the 80s and 90s as well.
Every generation has it's stars, but today's roll players are a hell of a lot better than they were then - and the stars who make them look foolish night in and night out, are better skilled as well.
Some are obviously more individually talented. But the '86 Celtics or '87 Lakers would beat the '12 Heat 100 times out of 100 in a Championship series. It would be total fucking domination.