2.02 intake valves... Overkill??

It's a good question though which is why it comes up so much. I'm fairly certain that the reason mopar went smaller had more to do with the upcoming emissions packages and parts sourcing than anything else. The combination of the 340 and 360 being available at the same time (one part # vs two) made it make sense. It wasn't like an "AhHa!" moment in regard to needing more power.
BJR is right to some extent. A smaller port and valve will be more responsive, but response time and power are not the same values and the affects on them are not that dramatic to cause such a vast difference between them. If you are interested in economy and are not concerned with overall power, smaller will provide a certain advantage. (There's a reason Magnum heads use 1.92s.) The question is how much of advantage, and at what cost. Having owned and street driven a 318 with both the factory 318 heads and then X heads, I prefered having X heads on it. Even with 3.23s, with a stick, in an E body there was no discernable "loss" in low end or softer midrange with everything else the same. The car scooted with both. So while I agree with the premise and the physics - my experience has been it's not a big gain in response and a small loss in overall power. In my car there was no discernable loss in response and it felt a bit faster.
Using the shoe size analogy - it's more like a size 11 1/2 vs a size 11 and I can wear either of those.