He wasn't alone.

A roller-coaster season took a serious plunge Tuesday night with Mayo's sentiment prevalent after the Grizzlies' 101-89 loss to the Phoenix Suns in FedExForum.

"It would probably be good for us to just get away for a day," Mayo said. "Spend time with our family, sleep in and get a good meal and get ready to come back work after the New Year."

The Griz ended 2008 on the court with perhaps their coldest shooting stretch of the season, and the ending for Mayo was indicative of the team's struggles.

Mayo missed his last 13 field goal attempts.

The Griz misfired on 15 of 18 shots, including their last seven, in the fourth period. Phoenix won the quarter 31-11, sending Memphis to its lowest quarter output in any period this season.

That, in a nutshell, was the ballgame.

"Maybe we lost focus a little bit," Mayo said.

An understatement as far as Griz coach Marc Iavaroni was concerned. Iavaroni didn't try to hide his disgust for the Grizzlies' consistent lack of cohesion late in games.

"This is a tough reality," Iavaroni said. "We play like a team for three quarters, and then we stop playing like a team. We start going one-on-one, we stop sharing the ball, we take tough shots when there are easier shots to be found and we put on the blinders. We just think we have to do it by ourselves. You get ugly Basketball."

How bad did it get in the fourth quarter?

The Grizzlies led 84-76 with 8:42 left to play, and made just one field goal the rest of the way. Reserve Hakim Warrick supplied the basket off a rebound and put-back that cut the Griz deficit to 91-89 with 4:06 remaining.

The score didn't happen as a result of a set play. And curiously, Warrick - with a team-high 25 points on 7-of-11 shooting and 11 made free throws - was pulled for Quinton Ross with three minutes left and the Griz down 92-89.

"It time for us to get past playing hard and play smart," Griz forward Rudy Gay said after a 14-point, 6-of-15 shooting night. "At the end of games we have to play more solid. It's everything. Offensively, defensively, play calling, it's everything."

Meanwhile, Leandro Barbosa's 28 points led the Suns, who also enjoyed Shaquille O'Neal's 24 points and 13 rebounds. Phoenix scored the comeback victory despite playing without starting point guard Steve Nash because of back spasms, and Amare Stoudemire after he was ejected with two technical fouls late in the second quarter.

"And we really locked down in the fourth quarter," Suns coach Terry Porter said. "We made them take tough shots. Then, Shaq did a good job of getting the rebounds."

The Suns won the scoring in the paint (58-18), fast-break scoring (28-8) and the rebounding battle (50-34).

That the Griz played their fourth game in five nights wasn't an excuse from Iavaroni to his players.

"I don't think we ran out of gas," Iavaroni said. "They played (Monday night) too. I just think maybe you could say there's less oxygen going to the brain. I don't know. We start to press, start to hold the ball and we start to dribble around. We start feeling footsteps."

Memphis took a 78-70 lead into the final frame, and held it until the game was knotted at 85. The Griz never led again after Barbosa's layup gave the Suns a lead.

Memphis' largest lead was nine points in the third after it held a 49-43 halftime advantage. The Griz held the Suns to 42 percent shooting and forced 11 turnovers in the first half.

Phoenix shot 52 percent and turned the ball over just seven times in the second half.

"Until we learn our lesson," Iavaroni said, "it's not going to change."

Tip-in: Griz rookie Darrell Arthur suffered a Grade 2 concussion after he was struck in the head by Phoenix reserve Louis Amundson's inadvertent elbow with 2:09 remaining in the first quarter. The injury allowed Hamed Haddadi to make his NBA debut. Haddadi, the first Iranian to play in the league, scored his first career points with two free throws eight minutes into the third period.