Lou Williams’ big effort isn’t in enough as Lakers fall to Kings, 97-96

Lou Williams is the Lakers’ closer and Tuesday night at Staples Center he tried to do his part.

Williams hit a three-pointer with 1 minute 45 seconds left and the Lakers tied the Sacramento Kings for the first time in the fourth quarter. A little more than a minute later, he did it again, tying the score, 96-96, with less than 30 seconds to go.

Then, with nine seconds left, Williams got the ball after a missed free throw by Kings forward DeMarcus Cousins. He elevated for a shot at the buzzer that didn’t fall.

“You never know until it gets there,” Williams said. “Probably wasn’t the shot I probably would have took for the game, but that’s how everything fell into place.”

The Lakers lost to Sacramento, 97-96.

“If [Cousins made the free throw] we would have taken a timeout, with a miss, especially when I saw Lou come up with the ball,” Coach Luke Walton said. “Anything we drew up was gonna be for him at that moment anyway.”

Cousins had 40 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter. Williams finished with 19 fourth-quarter points (and 29 overall) as he tried to lift the Lakers to their second win of the season against the Kings.

Williams was the only Laker to eclipse 20 points. Julius Randle had 11 points and Nick Young scored 10.

Fourth-quarter minutes

Lakers point guard D’Angelo Russell and forward Randle sat out the fourth quarter.

It’s not the first time that has happened, because Walton likes to reward fourth-quarter playing time to players who earn it earlier in the game.

That philosophy is a little bit different when it comes to rookie Brandon Ingram.

“It’s similar, but this is Brandon’s first year, so every chance we can get him a chance to get him to feel what it’s like guarding different players, being in when your own 15, when you’re up 15, a one-point game with two minutes to go at home as opposed to the road, all that, at this level, he hasn’t been a part of, and seeing how much more physical the game is,” Walton said. “Need to get that now so he knows what to expect going forward in his career.”

While Walton does see value in getting Russell, a second-year player, those minutes, he also thinks Russell has had experience in many of those situations.

“But also [we are] trying to get experience for [Jordan Clarkson],” Walton said. “When Lou’s having the type of game he was having, we weren’t gonna take him out.”

Break is looming

With one game left before the All-Star break, the Lakers coaching staff is trying to make sure the players stay focused a little longer.

A pending vacation can make that difficult.

“That’s a big part for every coach right now,” Walton said. “Whether you’re the Golden State Warriors or Brooklyn, every team in between, is keeping your guys focused. This part of the season, it’s been long, it’s been hard, everyone’s tired. Guys are banged up. We’re aware of that. We talk about it and we’ll continue to do our best to stay focused.”

Up next for Lakers: At Phoenix Wednesday

When: 6 PST.

Where: Talking Stick Resort Arena.

On the air: TV: Spectrum SportsNet, Spectrum Deportes; Radio: 710, 1330.

Records: Lakers 19-38, Suns 17-39.

Record vs. Suns: 1-1.

Update: The Suns are one of only two NBA teams — Brooklyn is the other — with a worse record than the Lakers, who will be playing the second game of a back to back after Tuesday night’s game against Sacramento in Staples Center. The Suns, who have lost 10 of their last 12 games, are led by high-scoring guards Eric Bledsoe (21.5 points a game) and Devin Booker (21.1). The two combined for 58 points in Phoenix’s 110-108 loss to New Orleans on Monday.

--Mike DiGiovanna

tania.ganguli@latimes.com

Follow Tania Ganguli on Twitter @taniaganguli