NEW YORK – The National Basketball Association announced today that Commissioner David Stern has denied the Atlanta Hawks’ protest of their 106-101 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Dec. 30, 2009.

In the protest, the Hawks argued that the failure of the shot clock operator to reset the shot clock following a defensive rebound by Atlanta with 1:57 remaining in the game warranted a replay of the game from that point forward.

Commissioner Stern determined that the shot clock error did not have a clear impact on the game’s outcome and therefore did not justify the extraordinary remedy of granting the protest and overturning the game’s result.