Life is much harder for white playing from the ace point vs a five prime than it from the deuce point vs a four prime. Getting hit on the ace is not very bad as we are only up against a 3 point board and have a threat to hit the checker on the 16.
So getting hit is not that bad, but more importantly, we win a ton more gammons and backgammons when we close the whole board up ASAP. This is much easier playing 8/2* 3/2 than it is playing 8/2* /1.
Low risks and large rewards are rarely bad
8/2* 3/2