The Atlanta Hawks followed through on attacking the mid-range

The Atlanta Hawks got their first win of the season with a resounding 113-87 win against the Dallas Mavericks in front of the home crowd on Thursday. It was a game clearly highlighted by the Hawks defensive effort, particularly, De’Andre Hunter’s effort on Mavs superstar Luka Doncic.

Several Hawks put up good offensive numbers, led by Cam Reddish, who had 20 points off of the bench.

Trae Young and Clint Capela both had double-doubles while John Collins fell one rebound short. Meanwhile, in addition to his defense, Hunter matched Bogdan Bogdanovic with 11 points as six Hawks hit double figures in points.

It was ‘how’ they got those points, though, that was most interesting.

John Collins and the Atlanta Hawks made a concerted effort to attack the mid-range in the season opener

Per NBA.com, Atlanta took 24 shots in the mid-range against the Mavericks. They could only hit them at a 29.2 percent clip, but the effort was clearly there. It’s notable because multiple Hawks mentioned they wanted to get better in the once-abandoned zone during training camp, including Trae Young and Kevin Huerter.

On Thursday, they were just second and fourth, respectively, on the team in shot attempts from the mid-range. Hunter took six shots there to lead the team. He was followed by John Collins, who tied with Young with five mid-range shots, Clint Capela, and Huerter.

Both Gorgui Dieng (made) and rookie Jalen Johnson (missed) also took a “middy” apiece while Reddish was 0-for-4 on his tries.

It represents a drastic shift, albeit for one game, from last season when the Hawks ranked 17th in mid-range attempts per game. They were, however, 11th in mid-range efficiency.

We went over how beneficial the mid-range shot can be despite the reputation it has gained and how the top teams used it. That included the reigning champion Milwaukee Bucks who ranked eighth in mid-range attempts last regular season.

To the Hawks credit, they actually adopted the strategy during their run to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, going from 10.3 attempts in the regular season to 15.6 in the postseason. They ranked fifth in mid-range shots during the playoffs and knocked down 43.6 percent of them.

Both Young and Collins shot 40.0 percent, while Hunter was at 33.3 percent.

It is very encouraging to see non-Young players taking advantage of the space he creates simply with the threat of his deep threes.

We’ll have to see if the trend continues, starting with Saturday’s matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Hawks lost the matchup between the two in the preseason 99-96. So it wouldn’t be a shock to see them try to bury a bad Cavs team early.

Perhaps, via the mid-range; an area Cleveland is allowing opponents to score on 50 percent of their attempts.