Five takeaways from the Clippers’ loss to the Hornets

The Clippers lost to the Charlotte Hornets 102-87 on Saturday for the team’s eighth straight loss. Here are five things we learned:

1. The Clippers are falling and falling and falling and can’t seem to get back up, leaving all of them hoping that the return of guard Patrick Beverley for Monday night’s game against the New York Knicks will help L.A. turn things around.

Following the loss in Charlotte, Beverley’s teammates were confident that the point guard would return for the game in New York, after missing the last five with a sore right knee.

Beverley did some shooting drills before the Clippers played Charlotte, and had challenged one of his coaches to a game of one-on-one.

Beverley had told The Times last week he had to have fluid drained from his knee.

Beverley was averaging 12.5 points per game in the 10 games he has played.

The Clippers were actually in the game against the Hornets, down by just one point with five minutes, 15 seconds left.

But about three minutes later, the Clippers were down by eight points and the game was essentially over.

Though they helped the Hornets to 30.4% shooting in the fourth, the Clippers themselves shot 30% from the field, 18.2% (two-for-11) from three-point range.

2. It’s impossible to measure the impact Lou Williams has on the Clippers.

Williams led the Clippers in scoring with 25 points off the bench.

He was 10-for-17 from the field.

He also had four assists in his 29 minutes, 20 seconds of work.

3. It was another poor shooting night for Austin Rivers.

He missed 11 of his 14 shots and five of his six three-point attempts.

He finished with just nine points.

4. The Clippers did not shoot straight against the Hornets, making just 39.8% of their field goals and 27.6% of their three-pointers.

5. Sam Dekker gave the Clippers a little lift during his 15:11 of playing time. He had five points and four rebounds.

Dekker was a plus-2 in the plus-minus category.

broderick.turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @BA_Turner