Rescuers end effort to find body of man presumed dead in sinkhole

SEFFNER, Florida -- Florida rescue workers have ended their efforts to recover the body of a man who disappeared into a sinkhole that swallowed his bedroom while he slept in a suburban Tampa home, and the house will be demolished, a public safety official said on Saturday.

Jeff Bush, 36, who is presumed dead, was asleep when the other five members of the household who were getting ready for bed on Thursday night heard a loud crash and Jeff screaming.

Authorities have not detected any signs of life after lowering listening devices and cameras into the hole.

"Our data has come back, and there is absolutely no way we can do any kind of recovery without endangering lives of workers," said Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Jessica Dam.

The sinkhole also has compromised the house next door, officials said Saturday.

Officials planned to let family members, accompanied by firefighters, into the threatened  home for about 20 minutes to gather some  belongings, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokesman Ronnie Rivera told reporters Saturday.

She said demolition of the home would begin early on Sunday.

Bush's body hadn’t been removed by Saturday afternoon and the ground near the home was still "very, very unsafe," Rivera said at a televised press conference Saturday.

"At this time we did some testing and we determined that the house right next to the house that’s actually damaged is also compromised by the sinkhole," Rivera said.

Jeff's brother, 35-year-old Jeremy Bush, jumped into the hole and furiously kept digging to find his brother.

"I really don't think they are going to be able to find him," Jeremy said on Saturday. He "will be there forever."

A small memorial of balloons and flowers for his brother had formed near the house on Saturday morning.

"I thank the Lord for not taking my daughter and the rest of my family," he said.

Jeremy himself had to be rescued from the sinkhole by the first responder to the emergency call, Douglas Duvall of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. When Duvall entered Jeff Bush's bedroom, all he saw was a widening chasm but no sign of Jeff.

"The hole took the entire bedroom," said Duvall. "You could see the bed frame, the dresser, everything was sinking," he said.

Norman Wicker, 48, the father of Jeremy's fiancee who also lived in the house, ran to get a flashlight and shovel.

"It sounded like a car ran into the back of the house," Wicker said.

"There is a very large, very fluid mass underneath this house rendering the entire house and the entire lot dangerous and unsafe," Bill Bracken, the head of an engineering company assisting fire and rescue officials, told the news conference late on Friday.

"We are still trying to determine the extent and nature of what's down there so we can best determine how to approach it and how to extricate," Bracken said.

After suspending the search overnight, it resumed at daylight on Saturday, with engineering consultants trying to determine the extent of the collapse so that a perimeter boundary can be established for setting up heavy equipment for future excavation.

Several nearby homes were evacuated in case the 30-foot wide sinkhole got larger but officials said Friday it only appeared to be getting deeper. Soil samples showed that the sinkhole has compromised the ground underneath a home next door, engineers said Saturday.

The residents of that house were allowed 20 minutes in their home on Saturday to gather belongings. Firefighters and residents formed an assembly line to move items out of the house into SUVs and trucks.

Rescue officials said that in addition to soil samples, they were focusing on engineering analysis, ground penetration radar and other techniques to determine the extent of the ongoing collapse. Listening devices were being used to detect any evidence of life although Bush was presumed dead.

The Bush brothers worked together as landscapers, according to Leland Wicker, 48, one of the other residents of the house.

The risk of sinkholes is common in Florida due to the state's porous geological bedrock, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. As rainwater filters down into the ground, it dissolves the rock, causing erosion that can lead to underground caverns, which cause sinkholes when they collapse.

Reuters

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Judge cuts Apple award versus Samsung, sets new damages trial

(Reuters) - Apple Inc had a major setback in its mobile patents battle with Samsung Electronics on Friday, as a federal judge slashed a $1.05 billion jury award by more than 40 percent and set a new trial to determine damages.

Apple won the award last year against Samsung in what was the biggest and highest-profile of a number of legal trials around the world, centered on the use and alleged abuse of patents in a highly competitive mobile market.

The iPhone maker convinced the jury that the Korean company, which in 2012 overtook Apple as the global smartphone leader, had infringed on its iPhone and iPad patents.

"We are pleased that the court decided to strike $450,514,650 from the jury's award," the Korean company said in a statement. "Samsung intends to seek further review as to the remaining award."

Apple declined to comment.

Friday's ruling by Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court Northern District of California in San Jose means the two mobile electronics companies may once again square off in a California court to decide how much of the $450.5 million struck from the damages, associated with 14 Samsung products, should stand.

Koh said the jury had incorrectly calculated part of the damages and that a new trial was needed to determine the actual, final dollar amount. That could end up less than or more than the original $450.5 million set by the jury.

Koh, rejecting Apple's motion for an increase in the jury's damages award, ordered a new trial on damages for the 14 devices, which include the Galaxy SII. The jury's award to Apple for 14 other separate products, totaling almost $599 million, was maintained.

"The court has identified an impermissible legal theory on which the jury based its award and cannot reasonably calculate the amount of excess while effectuating the intent of the jury," Koh said in her ruling.

Apple and Samsung account for one in two mobile phones sold. They also rely on each other for components and business.

Their legal tussle has been viewed as a proxy war between Apple and Google Inc as Samsung's flagship Galaxy smartphones and tablets run on Google's Android operating system.

Shares in Apple closed down 2.5 percent at $430.47 on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Gary Hill and Richard Chang)

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Kelly lifts No. 3 Duke past No. 5 Miami 79-76

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Ryan Kelly had waited two months for the chance to help his Duke teammates reclaim the form that made them the nation's top-ranked team.

He returned with a stunning performance that shook up No. 5 Miami and left his own Hall of Fame coach struggling for the right words.

The senior scored a career-high 36 points in his return from a foot injury that had sidelined him since January, helping the third-ranked Blue Devils beat the Hurricanes 79-76 on Saturday night in a matchup of the Atlantic Coast Conference's top teams.

"I guess I was ready for it," Kelly said. "That's all I can say."

Kelly knocked down 10 of 14 shots — including 7 of 9 3-pointers— for the Blue Devils (25-4, 12-4 ACC), who avenged a blowout road loss in January by grinding out a tough win in Cameron Indoor Stadium. He also went 9-for-12 from the foul line and pulled down seven rebounds in 32 minutes.

It left Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski joking to reporters that he was interested to read how they'd describe Kelly's big night.

"I mean, me saying 'spectacular' or whatever doesn't do his performance justice," Krzyzewski said. "One for the ages. Probably as good a performance as any player has had — a Duke player has had — in Cameron."

Kelly's performance was the highlight of a game that certainly lived up to the teams' lofty rankings and their status as the league's best. Miami led by seven in the first half and by two at the break, while Duke never led by more than five until the final 3 minutes.

Quinn Cook added 15 points, including a 3-pointer that gave Duke a 10-point lead with 1:55 left.

But the Hurricanes (23-5, 14-2) made a frantic rally and missed two 3s in the final seconds to tie it. Shane Larkin came up short on the first over Kelly. Durand Scott ran down the rebound and fired a pass to the left corner to Rion Brown, whose final 3 clanged off the rim as the horn sounded.

Kelly's season-high was 22 points and his career-best was 23 points before Saturday. He had missed 13 straight games with the right foot injury, though he had been gradually increasing his work in practice in recent days before going right back in the starting lineup Saturday.

"I just knew I was going to play my hardest," Kelly said. "Honestly, though, more than anything it was just going to be whether I could hold up with my breathing. I haven't played any games in a long time, and being in a game is a lot different from being in practice or anything you can do. But I think I held up all right."

He missed a 3 on Duke's first possession, but knocked one down 2½ minutes in and never looked rusty.

"Well, I thought we prepared for Ryan Kelly but obviously not for that Ryan Kelly," Miami coach Jim Larranaga said. "He was sensational from start to finish."

Miami had beaten Duke 90-63 in January and had already clinched at least a share of the ACC regular-season title with the Blue Devils' loss at Virginia on Thursday night. Miami will win its first ACC crown outright by beating either Georgia Tech or Clemson at home this week.

But Saturday's game was about more than just the league standings or the chance to avenge that blowout loss for the Blue Devils. Rather, this was their chance to reclaim some momentum for March with Kelly's return.

"The thing (the win) does for us is it gives us a chance over the next few weeks to transition to the NCAA tournament," Krzyzewski said. "We're just running a little bit different race than anybody else right now. And it doesn't mean everything's OK, but it's a lot better."

Duke was unbeaten with nonconference wins against Kentucky, Louisville and Ohio State when Kelly went down against Clemson in January. It was during Kelly's absence that Duke suffered 27-point loss at Miami on Jan. 23, a game that saw the Hurricanes romping unchecked through Duke's passive defense and even slapping the floor in an apparent jab at the Blue Devils' tradition.

The 6-foot-11 forward was averaging 13 points and five rebounds, and stretched defenses with his outside shot to open space for Mason Plumlee inside.

Fittingly, he started the spurt that finally put the Blue Devils ahead for good. First he hit a pair of free throws, then knocked down a 3-pointer over Kenny Kadji with the shot clock winding down to push Duke to a 58-56 lead with 9:13 left. Plumlee followed with a short hook to cap the 7-0 run for a 60-56 edge.

Duke extended its lead with another 7-0 burst, with freshman Rasheed Sulaimon scoring a pair of driving baskets before Cook's 3 that appeared to have Duke in control.

Miami fought back, getting a 3-pointer from Trey McKinney Jones to make it a one-possession game with 1:06 left. But in addition to those late misses, Larkin also had a costly turnover when he threw away a sideline pass to Brown with Miami trailing by just two with about 30 seconds left.

"This is the type of game that everybody lives for," said Durand Scott, who scored 12 for the Hurricanes. "You can't really get mad at this. We went out there, we played our hardest, we're proud of ourselves, and our team did the best that we could. We just fell short a 3."

Duke shot 52 percent, with Kelly's big day offsetting Seth Curry's struggles (seven points on 2-for-8 shooting) and Miami's domination on the boards that led to a 20-4 edge in second-chance points.

Larkin scored 25 points to lead Miami, while Kenny Kadji added 17 points and 10 rebounds. But big man Reggie Johnson had a miserable night by going scoreless on 0-for-5 shooting and picking up his fourth foul in the first minute after halftime.

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WHO: Slight cancer risk after Japan nuke accident

LONDON (AP) — Two years after Japan's nuclear plant disaster, an international team of experts said Thursday that residents of areas hit by the highest doses of radiation face an increased cancer risk so small it probably won't be detectable.

In fact, experts calculated that increase at about 1 extra percentage point added to a Japanese infant's lifetime cancer risk.

"The additional risk is quite small and will probably be hidden by the noise of other (cancer) risks like people's lifestyle choices and statistical fluctuations," said Richard Wakeford of the University of Manchester, one of the authors of the report. "It's more important not to start smoking than having been in Fukushima."

The report was issued by the World Health Organization, which asked scientists to study the health effects of the disaster in Fukushima, a rural farming region.

On March 11, 2011, an earthquake and tsunami knocked out the Fukushima plant's power and cooling systems, causing meltdowns in three reactors and spewing radiation into the surrounding air, soil and water. The most exposed populations were directly under the plumes of radiation in the most affected communities in Fukushima, which is about 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of Tokyo.

In the report, the highest increases in risk are for people exposed as babies to radiation in the most heavily affected areas. Normally in Japan, the lifetime risk of developing cancer of an organ is about 41 percent for men and 29 percent for women. The new report said that for infants in the most heavily exposed areas, the radiation from Fukushima would add about 1 percentage point to those numbers.

Experts had been particularly worried about a spike in thyroid cancer, since radioactive iodine released in nuclear accidents is absorbed by the thyroid, especially in children. After the Chernobyl disaster, about 6,000 children exposed to radiation later developed thyroid cancer because many drank contaminated milk after the accident.

In Japan, dairy radiation levels were closely monitored, but children are not big milk drinkers there.

The WHO report estimated that women exposed as infants to the most radiation after the Fukushima accident would have a 70 percent higher chance of getting thyroid cancer in their lifetimes. But thyroid cancer is extremely rare and one of the most treatable cancers when caught early. A woman's normal lifetime risk of developing it is about 0.75 percent. That number would rise by 0.5 under the calculated increase for women who got the highest radiation doses as infants.

Wakeford said the increase may be so small it will probably not be observable.

For people beyond the most directly affected areas of Fukushima, Wakeford said the projected cancer risk from the radiation dropped dramatically. "The risks to everyone else were just infinitesimal."

David Brenner of Columbia University in New York, an expert on radiation-induced cancers, said that although the risk to individuals is tiny outside the most contaminated areas, some cancers might still result, at least in theory. But they'd be too rare to be detectable in overall cancer rates, he said.

Brenner said the numerical risk estimates in the WHO report were not surprising. He also said they should be considered imprecise because of the difficulty in determining risk from low doses of radiation. He was not connected with the WHO report.

Some experts said it was surprising that any increase in cancer was even predicted.

"On the basis of the radiation doses people have received, there is no reason to think there would be an increase in cancer in the next 50 years," said Wade Allison, an emeritus professor of physics at Oxford University, who also had no role in developing the new report. "The very small increase in cancers means that it's even less than the risk of crossing the road," he said.

WHO acknowledged in its report that it relied on some assumptions that may have resulted in an overestimate of the radiation dose in the general population.

Gerry Thomas, a professor of molecular pathology at Imperial College London, accused the United Nations health agency of hyping the cancer risk.

"It's understandable that WHO wants to err on the side of caution, but telling the Japanese about a barely significant personal risk may not be helpful," she said.

Thomas said the WHO report used inflated estimates of radiation doses and didn't properly take into account Japan's quick evacuation of people from Fukushima.

"This will fuel fears in Japan that could be more dangerous than the physical effects of radiation," she said, noting that people living under stress have higher rates of heart problems, suicide and mental illness.

In Japan, Norio Kanno, the chief of Iitate village, in one of the regions hardest hit by the disaster, harshly criticized the WHO report on Japanese public television channel NHK, describing it as "totally hypothetical."

Many people who remain in Fukushima still fear long-term health risks from the radiation, and some refuse to let their children play outside or eat locally grown food.

Some restrictions have been lifted on a 12-mile (20-kilometer) zone around the nuclear plant. But large sections of land in the area remain off-limits. Many residents aren't expected to be able to return to their homes for years.

Kanno accused the report's authors of exaggerating the cancer risk and stoking fear among residents.

"I'm enraged," he said.

___

Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and AP Science Writer Malcolm Ritter in New York contributed to this report.

__

Online:

WHO report: http://bit.ly/YDCXcb

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Next Groupon CEO will have experience, Lefkofsky says

Groupon has fired its chief executive and the money-losing company faces several challenges, but Executive Chairman Eric Lefkofsky is undeterred. The Chicago-based e-commerce site, he said, is "inches away from greatness."

Lefkofsky, Groupon's co-founder and largest shareholder, speaking to the Tribune in his first public comments since Thursday's ouster of Andrew Mason, declined to discuss specific reasons for replacing Mason, though he pointed out at least one recent management error.

He also sounded as if he now agrees with the widespread sentiment that Mason didn't have the right skills to deal with the company's unique problems: It is global, large, technology-driven and growing fast, but it's also unprofitable, dogged by competitors and under intense scrutiny for its missteps.

Lefkofsky said he looked forward to hiring a CEO "who has experience dealing with the issues we're dealing with … who has been there and done that."

In spite of Groupon's troubles, "the long-term horizon of the company is fantastic," Lefkofsky said.

He'll have to forgive Wall Street if it casts a skeptical eye at his optimism. Even though it's less than 5 years old, Groupon popularized the idea of using the Internet to match local merchants and customers and it is now an established business. A new CEO isn't going to make the company's problems magically disappear.

Groupon is at a crossroads, not just because it has to find a replacement for Mason, the co-founder whose playful, irreverent style set the tone for the company's culture. Groupon faces shrinking consumer interest in its daily deals business that sends online coupons for everything from restaurants to pedicures to inboxes every day. And it has huge problems in its European operations.

Groupon is attempting to evolve its business model beyond daily deals into an ongoing, search-driven local marketplace. But the investment has been expensive. To boost growth, the company launched a separate business selling products at steep discounts. But that retail business has dragged down profit margins.

"While a new CEO may bring better skill sets (particularly in technology or online commerce), we believe that the challenges Groupon faces will only increase," wrote Edward Woo, an analyst at Ascendiant Capital Markets.

Lefkofsky supports the new course Mason had charted with input from him and other members of the board of directors.

In North America, email now drives less than 50 percent of Groupon's transactions. Half of local transaction volume comes from what the company calls its "deal bank," its searchable inventory of deals that are active for longer periods of time.

"This isn't about 'Oh, my God, we're going down the completely wrong road,'" Lefkofsky said. "Largely, the strategy and the business is going to continue down the exact same path it has been on."

He described Groupon as a "pioneer of curated commerce. We're selecting a certain number of deals every day, and then we're serving them out to people, sometimes via email, sometimes via mobile."

But the board decided that as the company enters the next stage of its evolution, the time was right to find "a new CEO that had some of those skills we need long term," Lefkofsky said.

In the interim, Lefkofsky and another director, former AOL Inc. executive Ted Leonsis, will run the company.

"Both (Ted) and I felt the company was inches away from greatness," Lefkofsky said.

That's a stretch judging by the stock market. Groupon's shares are down 75 percent in the 15 months since it went public at $20 a share. On Friday, in reaction to Mason's exit, the stock jumped more than 12 percent to close at $5.10.

While Groupon caught fire as a startup, it has stumbled repeatedly as it has grown. The company made embarrassing mistakes during the process of going public and then faced scrutiny over its accounting methods.

Since going public, Groupon has turned a quarterly profit only once.

In the fourth quarter, its net loss grew to $81.1 million, and the company projected weaker-than-expected operating income for the current quarter.

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Blackhawks' streak at 21 with overtime win over Blue Jackets

Chalk one up for the "slug defenseman."

Brent Seabrook's goal in overtime kept the Blackhawks' record-breaking streak alive as they edged the Blue Jackets 4-3 Friday night at the United Center to remain without a regulation loss this season. At 18-0-3, the Hawks keep piling up the points, securing 39 of a possible 42 this season.

Friday night's hero — with a little help from his friends — was Seabrook, who took a pass from Jonathan Toews 3 minutes, 23 seconds into overtime and beat Blue Jackets goaltender Steve Mason for the game-winner.

"(Toews) is good — he's a hell of a player," Seabrook said, giving credit to his captain. "He usually likes to shoot low and I think Mason was probably thinking he was going to shoot it. (Toews) had a slug defenseman (in me) going down on the off side so he made a great pass. I don't think the Blue Jackets defenseman, Mason or I expected it to come. Somehow he saw me and made a great pass.

"He didn't look at me once and I didn't yell. He's pretty good in those situations so I just let him do his thing. I don't think I shot the puck, it was such a hard pass it hit my stick and just bounced in."

Against a banged up and usually bumbling Blue Jackets squad, the Hawks increased their points streak over the course of two seasons to 27 consecutive games — third-longest in NHL history.

Viktor Stalberg, Patrick Sharp and Bryan Bickell had goals in regulation and Ray Emery earned the victory in net for the Hawks.

Vinny Prospal, Artem Anisimov and Ryan Johansen scored for the Blue Jackets but it wasn't enough. The Blue Jackets, who entered the game with the fewest points in the league, were without defensemen James Wisniewski, Jack Johnson and John Moore and forwards Derick Brassard and Brandon Dubinsky but fought gamely.

A night after the Hawks opened their victory over the Blues with a Toews goal just 10 seconds into the game, the Blue Jackets struck quickly when Prospal jumped on a big rebound Emery yielded off a Derek Dorsett shot and fired it into the open net with 31 seconds elapsed.

Stalberg later continued his mastery over the Blue Jackets with his 11th goal in his 15th game against them when the winger tapped in a puck in the crease during a scramble.

"We're finding ways to really get it done," Stalberg said. "It's pretty amazing to be a part of a run like this. It seems like it hasn't gotten to our heads at all. We're staying with it … and that's all we can do right now."

The Jackets kept coming and took the lead when Anisimov's shot from the point deflected off the Hawks' Daniel Carcillo and bounded past Emery.

Late in the second, the Hawks' offense kicked into gear. Sharp evened the score at 2-2 when his backhander from the left circle somehow made it through Mason's pads and trickled across the goal line.

Bickell's splendid individual effort put the Hawks ahead just less than a minute later. The winger stripped Anisimov of the puck, skated in two-on-one with Stalberg and rifled a wrist shot from the left dot past Mason to the stick side.

After Johansen tied it midway through the third, the goalies held and the game went to overtime where Toews and Seabrook won it.

"(The Blue Jackets are) a hard-working team," Seabrook said. "They play 60 minutes hard and you have to come to play this team hard every time. There are no easy games in this league and you never can take a night off. I thought we fought hard on the second part of a back-to-back and it was good to get the win."

ckuc@tribune.com

Twitter @ChrisKuc

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Judge cuts Apple award versus Samsung, sets new damages trial

(Reuters) - Apple Inc had a major setback in its ongoing mobile patents battle with Samsung Electronics on Friday, as a federal judge slashed a $1.05 billion jury award by more than 40 percent and set a new trial to determine damages.

Apple won the award last year against Samsung in what was the biggest and highest-profile of a number of legal trials around the world, centered on the use and alleged abuse of patents in a highly competitive mobile market.

The iPhone maker convinced the jury that the Korean company, which in 2012 overtook Apple as the global smartphone leader, had infringed on its iPhone and iPad patents.

"We are pleased that the court decided to strike $450,514,650 from the jury's award," the Korean company said in a statement. "Samsung intends to seek further review as to the remaining award."

Apple declined to comment.

Friday's ruling by Judge Lucy Koh of the U.S. District Court Northern District of California in San Jose means the two mobile electronics companies may once again square off in a California court to decide how much of the $450.5 million struck from the damages, associated with 14 Samsung products, should stand.

Koh said the jury had incorrectly calculated part of the damages and that a new trial was needed to determine the actual, final dollar amount. That could end up less than or more than the original $450.5 million set by the jury.

Koh, rejecting Apple's motion for an increase in the jury's damages award, ordered a new trial on damages for the 14 devices, which include the Galaxy SII. The jury's award to Apple for 14 other separate products, totaling almost $599 million, was maintained.

"The court has identified an impermissible legal theory on which the jury based its award and cannot reasonably calculate the amount of excess while effectuating the intent of the jury," Koh said in her ruling.

Apple and Samsung account for one in two mobile phones sold. They also rely on each other for components and business.

Their legal tussle has been viewed as a proxy war between Apple and Google Inc as Samsung's flagship Galaxy smartphones and tablets run on Google's Android operating system.

Shares in Apple closed down 2.5 percent at $430.47 on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Gary Hill and Richard Chang)

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Heat top Grizzlies 98-91 for 13th straight win

MIAMI (AP) — LeBron James endured his worst shooting night of the season, and still delivered the biggest basket of the game.

That's how things are going these days for the Miami Heat.

Dwyane Wade scored 22 points and set up James for a critical 3-pointer in the final half-minute, and the Heat extended their winning streak to 13 games by beating the Memphis Grizzlies 98-91 on Friday night.

"I thought this was one of our better wins of the season," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "It was tough. We had to work for everything. We had to find a different way to win, deal with frustration ... and then make some plays down the stretch."

On a night when he shot just 4 for 14, James finished two rebounds shy of a triple-double, with 18 points and 10 assists. Shane Battier scored 14, Chris Bosh added 13 and Ray Allen had 10 for Miami, which snapped Memphis' eight-game winning streak.

But down the stretch, James — who had 14 points, four rebounds and four assists in the fourth quarter alone — was simply too much to handle.

"He made the big shot and that's all that matters," said Memphis' Marc Gasol, who led all scorers with 24. "He wasn't having the usual (numbers) he normally gets. I think we did a good job. He took a shot like he's supposed to and made it so kudos, move on."

Gasol tied the game with a pair of free throws with 2:44 left, before the Heat scored the next five — and quickly — to build a bit of breathing room. Bosh had a three-point play, and Wade took off in transition for a slam that put Miami up 90-85.

Memphis wasn't done. Gasol made two more free throws, then scored off a dribble-drive with 42.5 seconds left to get the Grizzlies within 90-89.

But that was the last gasp.

On the next Miami possession, James hit a 3-pointer with 24 seconds remaining, and the Heat made free throws from there to close out the win.

"I've got confidence I'm going to knock it down, just like all the other ones I've missed," James said. "I had confidence in those too, but they just don't go down. That's how the ball goes sometimes. But I'm always confident in my next shot. D-Wade gave me a great pass and I was able to knock it down."

The Grizzlies got 14 points from Zach Randolph, who said he was bothered throughout after turning his left ankle on the game's first possession. Mike Conley added 14 for Memphis, which got 10 from Quincy Pondexter.

"I have no problem with the game," Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins said. "We were right there. They just made a few more plays than we did down the stretch."

For the Heat, this week was filled with attention for things like pregame dunking exhibitions and their version of a "Harlem Shake" video — which generated more than 5 million views on YouTube in about 24 hours of being posted.

Then came a basketball game, the likes of which had not been seen in the NBA for almost 20 years.

According to STATS LLC, the most recent time before Friday that there was a game between two teams that were carrying at least 12- and eight-game winning streaks was Dec. 3, 1993, when Atlanta (which had won nine straight) beat Houston (which had won 15 straight).

In fact, the Heat-Grizzlies game was just the eighth in NBA history pitting two teams with active winning streaks of at least eight in a row.

Want more significance? Spoelstra and Hollins were announced earlier in the day as the Eastern and Western Conference coaches of the month, respectively. And news came just before tipoff that James was picked yet again as the East's player of the month, making him 4-for-4 in that department this season.

"Just a residual of team success," Spoelstra said.

Added Hollins: "I'm the head coach and I get the credit and I get the blame, but those guys have been playing extremely well ... coming together with all the turmoil and all the chaos that we've had."

So of course, in a game between the NBA's two hottest teams, the start was ice cold. The teams combined to miss 23 of their first 32 shots.

And for James, things were downright frigid.

After the best shooting month of his career — the three-time MVP made 64 percent of his shots in February, the best month of any NBA player with 200 attempts since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar shot 65 percent in March 1983 — James' run in March started in a decidedly different manner.

James made a 3-pointer on his first attempt of the night, then missed his next eight tries, and had just four points after three quarters.

A dunk with 9:19 left in regulation was just his second made field goal of the night, and he hit a runner midway through the fourth to reach double-digit scoring for the 475th straight regular-season game, going back to Jan. 6, 2007.

"You won't see that happening too many times," Wade said. "It was great that on a night where he didn't have it going offensively, he had trust in his guys and didn't force up 20-odd shots. He played to pass and he still was aggressive. We'll take it. We'll take it, him getting those numbers and us getting the win."

NOTES: The Heat had the blessing of team officials when they took a half-hour before practice Thursday to tape the "Harlem Shake" video in their locker room. "We don't need to be serious all the time," Bosh said. ... Battier has at least one 3-pointer in 14 straight games, the fourth-best such streak of his career. ... Miami is at New York on Sunday, facing a Knicks team that has already beaten the Heat twice — by 20 points each time. "Our guys will look forward to playing this game," Spoelstra said.

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Incomes see largest drop in 20 years

U.S. consumer spending rose in January as Americans spent more on services, with savings providing a cushion after income recorded its biggest drop in 20 years.

Income tumbled 3.6 percent, the largest drop since January 1993. Part of the decline was payback for a 2.6 percent surge in December as businesses, anxious about higher taxes, rushed to pay dividends and bonuses before the new year.

A portion of the drop in January also reflected the tax hikes. The income at the disposal of households after inflation and taxes plunged a 4.0 percent in January after advancing 2.7 percent in December.

The Commerce Department said on Friday consumer spending increased 0.2 percent in January after a revised 0.1 percent rise the prior month. Spending had previously been estimated to have increased 0.2 percent in December.

January's increase was in line with economists' expectations. Spending accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity and when adjusted for inflation, it gained 0.1 percent after a similar increase in December.

Though spending rose in January, it was supported by a rise in services, probably related to utilities consumption. Spending on goods fell, suggesting some hit from the expiration at the end of 2012 of a 2 percent payroll tax cut. Tax rates for wealthy Americans also increased.

The impact is expected to be larger in February's spending data and possibly extend through the first half of the year as households adjust to smaller paychecks, which are also being strained by rising gasoline prices.

Economists expect consumer spending in the first three months of this year to slow down sharply from the fourth quarter's 2.1 percent annual pace.

With income dropping sharply and spending rising, the saving rate - the percentage of disposable income households are socking away - fell to 2.4 percent, the lowest level since November 2007. The rate had jumped to 6.4 percent in December.

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Groupon CEO Andrew Mason to staff: 'I was fired today'

After he was fired Thursday, Andrew Mason wrote a note to his Groupon colleagues filled with the same offbeat humor, charm and candor that defined his tenure as chief executive of the daily deals company he co-founded.

"After four and a half intense and wonderful years as CEO of Groupon, I've decided that I'd like to spend more time with my family," the letter began. "Just kidding — I was fired today."

His ouster came as no surprise. Questions about his future have been swirling for months because of Groupon's poor performance since going public a little more than a year ago.

The end of the road for the 32-year-old Mason came a day after the Chicago-based company posted disappointing fourth-quarter earnings that sent its stock reeling. But his exit was signaled three months ago when an anonymous leak to a well-read tech blog indicated that Groupon's board of directors was considering replacing Mason.

Mason even alluded to his preordained departure in his farewell note: "If you're wondering why ... you haven't been paying attention. … As CEO I am accountable."

Mason's firing also reflects a changing company with needs different than the skyrocketing startup that he helped create in 2008. His rapid rise and fall is hardly unusual in entrepreneurial circles. It's hard to transition from visionary to manager of a complex, global enterprise and the pace at Groupon was nearly unprecedented.

"I've always thought they got a bad rap in the press," Matt Moog, a Chicago tech entrepreneur, said of Groupon's leaders. "It's extraordinarily difficult to grow a company as fast as they did and get it all right the first time. The change in leadership will give them a chance to back away from that criticism a little bit and try to keep growing the company."

Groupon's struggles have been stunning, and dispiriting, to many in Chicago because so many expectations were wrapped up in its early success. The city's tech scene has worked through several boom and bust cycles trying to put itself on the map as a regional center. That ambition is held not just by local entrepreneurs and investors, but civic boosters all the way up to Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

And for a while, Groupon delivered the goods. The company evolved into one of the hottest names in technology in less than three years, single-handedly redefining Chicago as one of the most exciting cities in the country for digital business. Employment at the company grew from a handful to more than 10,000 worldwide as the company's valuation blossomed into the billions.

Groupon's red-hot growth attracted numerous imitators, from LivingSocial to Amazon. Google noticed the competitive threat to its local advertising sales and tried to purchase Groupon in 2010 for nearly $6 billion. Groupon's leaders said no deal.

For a while it looked like a smart call. Investors cheered Groupon's initial public offering in November 2011. It ended its first day as a public company worth more than $17 billion.

But since then Groupon has floundered, as consumers' appetite for heavily discounted deals on restaurants, yoga classes and pedicures has shrunk. To boost growth the company started Groupon Goods, an online retailer selling a seemingly random assortment of products — everything from leggings to cowhide rugs — at a discount.

Few analysts believe Groupon can effectively compete in the online retailer space against the likes of Amazon. Some see it as little more than an expensive way to beef up sales and, ultimately, as a distraction from its lagging daily deals business.

A more promising initiative may be Groupon's local marketplace, a shift from pushing out daily deals to pulling in customers through ongoing, search-driven offers. Launched in November in Chicago and New York, customers who search online for various products and services will see relevant deals on Groupon, hopefully pulling them to the site to fulfill their purchases.

The company called it an "evolutionary step" toward demand shopping, while Mason, on what was his last conference call as CEO of Groupon on Wednesday, said it was a necessary change of direction.

"It's hard to believe that just a short time ago we were a deal-a-day business," he said. "As you can see, our business continues to evolve at a breakneck pace."

Questions about the company's direction — and identity — will now fall to someone else.

Groupon, valued at less than $3 billion, said it has launched a search for Mason's replacement. In the meantime, Executive Chairman Eric Lefkofsky and Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis will be in charge.

"This company is in a different phase of its growth now and it requires a slightly different skill set," said Arvind Bhatia, a senior research analyst at Sterne Agee. "What they need is somebody who has e-commerce experience and who has an operational background — not just a visionary."

As co-founder and chief executive, Mason not only was Groupon's public face, but also defined its culture. Unlike Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and other high-profile tech entrepreneurs, Mason did not grow up a computer-programming whiz.

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