As the stretch run of the NBA season approaches, the Miami Heat have proven their point by  challenging history. The New York Knicks have taken advantage of resting teams while amassing a 12 game win streak. The Boston Celtics have been fighting injuries to their aging veterans.

Very few match-ups arouse NBA fans like Celtics vs Heat. However, their final meeting of the season will likely be less than inspiring play. Miami Heat coach, Erik Spoelstra has made it clear that the Heat have made their point and are now taking Doc Rivers and Greg Popavich philosophy of rest over wins.

Dwyane Wade is fighting another nagging knee injury and Chris Bosh has the flu. LeBron James is fighting exhaustion from another MVP season. According to ESPN, the Miami Heat are going to continue to rest their super-stars during the stretch run.

From ESPN Heat Meter:

"unless he gets dramatically better," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said before Tuesday's game. "It is something we talked about," Spoelstra said. "I don't know if we will bring him around everybody."

Unless Coach Spoelstra is emphasizing 'injuries' for rest to avoid a fine, Wade's nagging knees should be a concern for the young coach. D-Wade has worked around deteriorating knees for years.

On the 'other side' of the rivalry, the Boston Celtics have arguably had more debilitating injuries than any other team in the NBA. With the loss of Jared Sullinger, Leandro Barbossa and Rajon Rondo, the Celtics have had to rework their entire philosophy and the pressure has really fallen upon the tired legs of their aging veterans, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.

Pierce has suffered from a buffet of bumps and bruises including, a neck injury and ankle issues. As the season has progressed, Garnett has been plagued by leg issues again. He currently is suffering from a foot injury that has been rumored to be bone spurs. Garnett has complained of pain when doing such ordinary tasks as driving a car.

Pierce told ESPNBoston yesterday that his health is improving.

"It's getting better," Pierce said. "I'm getting treatment, doing the necessary things I need to do to be better. It's doing a lot better."

As for the future, the Captain says that Coach Doc Rivers will be calling the shots when it comes to playing time as the season winds down.

"I'm going to leave that up to Coach," Pierce said. "Maybe I'll talk to him, talk about these last five games, depending on how my body feels, depending on the seeding situation we're in. We'll figure something out."

Doc Rivers will not disclose his plans for resting his veterans but, yesterday he did assure the media that he does have a solid-secret plan.

"Obviously, we have to take care of our position," Rivers said. "But, for Kevin, rest is always important, and Paul as well. But, other than that, we've thought about (resting them), we've talked about it."

As the Celtics prepare for the playoffs, the immediate focus is avoiding the Miami Heat in the first round. The Celtics will take on the Heat this Friday and it's unclear who will be in uniform for their final meeting of the regular season. Though the stakes are lessened as the playoff seeding is all but locked up, bragging rights and fan enthusiasm remain high any time these two rivals meet.

Will we see a watered down roster for Friday? With Doc keeping his plan top-secret, I guess we will just have to wait and see. Stay tuned to CLNS Radio for more news regarding the last 5 games of the regular season.

The Boston Celtics continue their home-stand tonight against the Brooklyn Nets. CLNS Radio and CelticsBlog will have all your post-game coverage.

Immediately following the game, the Celtics Post Game Show will go live. Tonight's hosts will be Ty Ray, Mike "The Scotsman" Munger" and Daniel Baker.

As always, the guys will be hanging out in the CelticsBlog chat-room, and taking your calls throughout the entire broadcast.

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Recently, we saw Rajon Rondo shooting around before a Boston Celtics game. Today, Jared Sullinger took to the practice floor in a surprise session of free throw shooting. It's a terrific sign to see Jared Sullinger shooting around with his teammates. When I spoke to him on Friday night, he told me he was feeling well and was ear-to-ear smiles. I certainly didn't expect to see Ben Rohrbach posting videos of 'Sully' shooting around today though. I guess the warm weather has everyone in a good mood and more motivated.

Saturday is Boston's annual Blogapalooza event. CLNS Radio will be well represented at today's event. All of your favorite personalities will be present to celebrate another successful event that helps to promote the blogging community at large.

Additionally, our locker room crew, Jared Weiss and Lucas Parolin, will also be in attendance and filming some great footage for the CLNS YouTube Channel.

We hope to see you all at today's event.

Here's all the information you need to attend:

Your favorite sports and social media networking event is back! Boston Sports Blogapalooza AKA Palooza Spring 2013 will be held on Saturday, April 6th at the Harp across from TD Garden. This year, we are making a donation to the Miracle League of Boston in honor of Rich Shertenlieb of Toucher & Rich and his wife Mary. For your generosity, you will be entered into a raffle for some WICKED awesome prizes (you get one ticket for every dollar you donate)! Please give what you can and let's show the big dogs what the Boston sports blogging community is all about! Register/Donate At: http://bostonsportsblogpaloozaspring2013.eventbrite.com/ Speaking of community, Fancred is a co-sponsor of this year's event along with our friends at the Harp. Fancred is not just a sports app, but it's a community of sports fans. Be sure to stop by their table for a demo! PALOOZA SPRING 2013 Agenda 200PM-300PM-Registration 200PM-530PM-WICKED Awesome Networking 200PM-4PM-98.5 The Sports Hub Street Team 4PM Food Served & Coors Light Promo 530PM-6PM-Raffle drawing & Closing 6PM-11PM - Bruins Viewing Party What's Up For Grabs - Donate To Enter

The street teams from 98.5 The Sports Hub & Coors Light will be in the house! Sportsworld USA will be conducting a silent auction on some AWESOME Bruins, Patriots, Red Sox & Celtics memorabilia! And the night won't end there......A Bruins viewing party will follow as the Black & Gold take on the HATED Habs! This is a 21+ event Remember to become a Facebook fan and follow ‘Palooza on Twitter to stay up to date on all the Boston Sports Blogapalooza news.

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The Celtics continue their home-stand as they face the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight at TD Garden.

The Celtics Post Game Show is now live. Your hosts are Ty Ray and Brian Langford.

Expect multiple check-ins from TD Garden as the CLNS Personalities are in-town for the Boston Sports Blogapalooza event.

As always, the guys will be taking your calls and hanging out in the CelticsBlog chat-room throughout the 120 minute broadcast.

Following the Celtics Post Game Podcast, the Garden Report will go live. As a special guest, Jared Weiss, Jimmy Toscano and Evans Clinchey will welcome CLNS co-owner/co-founder Nick Gelso to the broadcast booth.

Call into the Studio: 347-215-7771 | Listen Live | Join the Chat

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The Celtics continue their home-stand as they face the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight at TD Garden.

The Celtics Post Game Show is now live. Your hosts are Ty Ray and Brian Langford.

Expect multiple check-ins from TD Garden as the CLNS Personalities are in-town for the Boston Sports Blogapalooza event.

As always, the guys will be taking your calls and hanging out in the CelticsBlog chat-room throughout the 120 minute broadcast.

Following the Celtics Post Game Podcast, the Garden Report will go live. As a special guest, Jared Weiss, Jimmy Toscano and Evans Clinchey will welcome CLNS co-owner/co-founder Nick Gelso to the broadcast booth.

3 years ago, this month, Brandon Paul (B-Paul) and I joined forces to bring you CLNS Radio.

The original website was a marriage of North Station Sports and Gino's Jungle.

Today, we bring you the brand new CLNS Radio.

A state-of-the-art home, built around stylish features and a sexy, sleek look, all in a stress-free browsing environment. In the new home of internet, sports talk radio, you will find an equal presence for all sports we cover. You will also find our new Audio/Visual Center for our Locker Room coverage and roster of sports podcasts.

We hope you enjoy our new home. Please send any questions/concerns to our mailbag.

Sincerely,

Nick Gelso and Brandon Paul