User blog comment:Omega natsu2/Episode 188: Attacking Lightning!, Review./@comment-4933386-20140628051256/@comment-7418318-20140628182214

Maybe he used the water instead of creating ice himself, because that way he could make ice closer to the enemy and thus give them less time to react.

As far as I remember, Gray and Lyon never created ice at a distance. They created it at their own location and then either spread or shot it outwards.