Cole Anthony taking advantage of midrange opportunities as Magic beat Wizards
Published in Basketball
WASHINGTON — The Orlando Magic have a clear hierarchy in the type of field-goal attempts they want: shots near the rim, free throws and feet-set 3-pointers.
The Magic are mostly successful in these desires, being top 10 in shot frequency at the rim (10th) and free-throw rate (6th). Orlando doesn’t take many 3s.
But most modern defenses are designed to take away these shots, leaving one area of the floor open: the midrange.
The Magic aren’t shy when it comes to taking intermediate shots and they weren’t in Friday’s 116-109 road win over the Washington Wizards (34-43) at Capital One Arena.
Nearly one-third (32.2%) of their field-goal attempts come from the midrange, the 12th-highest mark in the league, including 11% (8th-highest) from “long midrange,” according to database Cleaning The Glass.
“You don’t want to take away from what the game is giving you in those moments,” coach Jamahl Mosley said ahead of Friday’s win. “Early on, you want the rim and get the 3s. As the shot clock goes down, you want to be able to take and make the midrange because that’s a lot of times what the defense has given them.
“You don’t want to kind of force the game into something it’s not giving you. You want to be able to take what the game gives you in those situations.”
While the Magic have several players who thrive on midrange shots, Cole Anthony has been particularly effective in this area recently.
His comfort in the midrange was evident when the Magic needed it most against the Wizards.
Anthony went 4 of 7 on midrange shots in the win, including making back-to-back pull-up 2s midway through the fourth as part of the Magic’s comeback.
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