But when I think about it more, I cannot quite decide if or why that would actually be the case.
Agreed, the actual balancing task is the same but it calls for pretty accurate control of thrust in the last few seconds and some fancy guidance systems. They use aerodynamic steering in addition to rocket gimbals, four flaps that look a bit like large fly swats are deployed from the side of the rocket and are used to steer and perhaps also reduce the rate of descent, not sure.