The gist: Don’t always go for a max damage combo. Spacing and potential opportunities for damage after the combo may be more advantageous.
Advanced players don’t always go for the combo that punishes the hardest, though. Their reason? Off a combo opportunity, they may want to achieve a more advantageous position for the next situation rather than max damage.
For example, instead of going for max damage off a single opportunity, you choose to execute a combo that pushes the opponent to the corner. In the corner, the potential for consistent damage (from cross-ups and wake-up games and resets) is greater than the single max damage opportunity.