Five takeaways from the Lakers’ 118-110 loss to the Bulls

Simply glancing at the numbers from Sunday night’s game would lead one to believe that the Lakers had no business being as close to the Bulls as they were at the end of the game.

They showed their late-game fight again Sunday by threatening in the fourth quarter.

We’ll start there in today’s five takeaways from the Lakers’ 118-110 loss.

1. The Bulls won most every meaningful statistical category — rebounds, assists, fouls, field goal percentage, points in the paint, second-chance points and fast-break points. The Lakers shot better from three, and turned the ball over less than the Bulls. In fact, they had zero turnovers until the final minutes of the first half, and that’s a big part of what kept the Lakers in the game.

2. Jordan Clarkson has been a force off the bench for the Lakers, but Sunday wasn’t his night. Clarkson shot 1 for 12 for five points. His best contributions might have been his three assists. “I mean he couldn’t get anything to drop for him,” Lakers Coach Luke Walton said. “But I like that he stayed aggressive. I still feel like he might have passed up one or two shots that he would normally take.” Walton suggested that a way to counter a poor shooting night is to draw some fouls and get to the line to help find a better rhythm.

3. Each player has his own style when it comes to his postgame response, and Julius Randle is quickly becoming one of the Lakers’ most vocal self-critics. “We didn’t guard anybody tonight,” he said. “That’s a big reason why we lost the game.” More specifically about himself, he said he did a “terrible job” of guarding Taj Gibson. Gibson made seven of 12 shots. Randle finished with 14 points, three rebounds and two assists.

4. D’Angelo Russell was asked about his thought process on arguing calls with refs. “It’s funny, when I was younger I used to watch NBA games and I used to see people complain to the refs after they made a call,” Russell said. “You look at it, it’s like they’re not going to change the call. Nothing you can say is going to make them do anything different. I told myself I’d keep my mouth closed if I got to this point, but it’s so hard when you feel like they’re wrong and you’re right.”

5. Rookie Brandon Ingram has been strong late in games, but he wants his production to improve earlier. “I’m just trying to attack more, be more aggressive and just trying to pick my spots and be in the right positions to make those moves,” Ingram said. He had seven points, three assists and four rebounds.

tania.ganguli@latimes.com

Twitter: @taniaganguli