DALLAS, Nov. 19 (Ticker) -- The Dallas Mavericks continue to roll. The Los Angeles Lakers can't get out of their own way.

NBA TV highlights from Mavs-Lakers: 56k | 300k

Steve Nash scored 17 of his 21 points in the opening half as the Mavericks ran their season-opening winning streak to 11 games with a 98-72 rout of the struggling Lakers.

Dallas is the 10th team to start a season 11-0 and off to the best start since the Chicago Bulls opened the 1996-97 campaign with 12 straight victories. The Mavericks, who matched the team record for consecutive victories at any point, host Houston on Thursday.

The best start in NBA history is shared by the 1948 Washington Capitols and 1993 Houston Rockets, who both won their first 15 games.

"We just want to get better," Nash said. "We don't really care about the streak or anything like that. We just want to improve every day."

"I'm not surprised," Mavericks guard Michael Finley said. "We've been playing real well, I guess good enough to be 11-0. We just have to keep playing hard and not be satisfied with the record."

Dirk Nowitzki had 18 points and tied a season high with 17 rebounds and Finley added 18 and a career-high 15 boards as the Mavericks defeated the Lakers for just the fifth time in the last 46 meetings.

"I don't feel like we're on top of the league or anything," Nash said. "I don't feel unbeatable. We know the Lakers will be a totally different team the next time we play. We did what we needed to do."

Kobe Bryant scored 16 points for the Lakers (3-8), who trailed 54-39 at halftime. Last season, they did not lose their eighth game until January 12.

The 72 points for Los Angeles were two off the franchise low set November 5 in a loss to Cleveland. The Lakers have scored more than 100 points just once this season and are 1-5 on the road.

"Well this wasn't one of our scintillating nights," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "This is a game we want to forget about. ... I was disappointed in my players as far as being competitive tonight."

"I don't feel like we gave up tonight," Lakers forward Rick Fox said. "It may have looked that way and I don't think we necessarily played altogether too smart and that will get you beat on the road against a team like Dallas."

The Lakers are a half-game out of the basement in the Pacific Division and eagerly awaiting the return of superstar center Shaquille O'Neal. Veteran guard Brian Shaw felt that the team is using the absence of its big man as an excuse.

"We're using Shaq coming back too much as a crutch," Shaw said. "In the meantime we have to play better while he's out. We were playing a team tonight that's undefeated, that's in our conference and that we know is gunning for us and there is no excuse. We should have come out and played with a lot more heart tonight."

"It was another example of a break we received this season by playing this Laker team without Shaq," Mavericks coach Don Nelson said. "We caught a bit of a break by not having him tonight. This is not the same Laker team we will see the next time we play. We will take the win and not say much else than we took advantage of a good situation."

The Lakers played well early and were tied, 25-25, after 12 minutes. Los Angeles was within 33-31 on a dunk by Robert Horry with 7:58 left in the half but Dallas went on a 14-2 spurt.

Nowitzki had seven points, capping the burst with a tip-in with four minutes left in the second quarter. The Mavericks made 12-of-21 shots in the period and led 54-39 at the half.

Any hope Los Angeles had of getting back in the game evaporated when Dallas opened the second half with a 15-3 run. Finley's 3-pointer off a feed from Nash left the Mavericks with a 69-42 lead with 5:35 to go and Los Angeles never got closer than 19 the rest of the way.

Shawn Bradley chipped in a season-high 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Mavericks, who held a 64-51 rebounding edge.

Los Angeles shot 30 percent (28-of-91) from the field, made just 4-of-17 3-point attempts and committed 18 turnovers.