updated 1:02 a.m. ET Nov. 22, 2008

LOS ANGELES - Phil Jackson prefers when none of his starters has to play more than 34 minutes. Not only did he get his wish in the Lakers’ one-sided win over Denver, but none of them spent 30 minutes on the court — and they still kept Carmelo Anthony in check.

Kobe Bryant scored 11 of his 29 points in the third quarter before sitting out the fourth, Andrew Bynum had 13 points and 13 rebounds, and Los Angeles coasted to a 104-90 victory on Friday night.

“It’s about taking care of business. That is how we push it,” said Bryant, who is averaging just under 34 minutes. “It’s a push against the clock. I think it shows the business attitude that we have, as well as depth. I wanted to do a little more service, especially in these sleeper games.”

The defending Western Conference champion Lakers (10-1) are off to their best start through 11 games since the 2001-02 championship season, when they won 16 of their first 17. All of their victories have been decided by seven or more points — which was their winning margin against four teams.

“They have a lot of offensive weapons, and they’ve turned themselves into a pretty good defensive team,” Denver coach George Karl said. “They’re much improved defensively from last year, and they haven’t had a close game.”

Anthony, the runner-up to Bryant for the league scoring title in 2006-07, had 10 points on 5-for-19 shooting and is averaging just 16.3 points over his last six games. He has scored 30 or more points 57 times since the start of the ’06-07 season, the third-highest total during that stretch behind LeBron James (77) and Bryant (75).

“I think it’s very difficult to be a star when defenses are designed and manipulated to take you out and stop you from being successful,” Karl said. “Right now we’re not getting a lot of opportunities for him. He’s taking a lot of tough shots and getting frustrated over the shot selection. I think he’s got to be patient and work with us, and we’ll figure out how to help him gain more success.”

Anthony didn’t get to the free throw line all night. He sat out the fourth quarter and kept his double-digit scoring streak alive at 218 consecutive games when he hit a 15-foot jumper with 11:15 left in the third.

The last time the six-year veteran was in single digits was Nov. 28, 2005, when he played just 1½ minutes against New Jersey before leaving with a sprained ankle and had two points.

“We focused on not giving him open opportunities, getting a body on him when he gets the basketball, turning him to the baseline a lot of times and trying to keep him from the middle so he couldn’t penetrate,” Jackson said. “Vlade (Radmanovic) did a good job on him and I thought guys focused on him and knew where he was.”

Nene and J.R. Smith had 18 points apiece for Denver. Chauncey Billups made his first three shots, but was 3-for-9 the rest of the way and finished with 15 points and nine assists before going to the bench with 10:39 remaining.

Billups, a three-time All-Star, is averaging 18.3 points and 6.2 assists in nine games since the Nuggets reacquired him from Detroit in a trade that sent Allen Iverson to the Pistons.

“This team taught us a lesson tonight, and they beat us in every aspect,” Billups said. “When you come out against a team like this and don’t give 100 percent, it shows.”

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