NBA: Golden State Warriors dominate LeBron-less Los Angeles Lakers as Oklahoma City Thunder earn dramatic win over Houston Rockets on opening night | NBA News

​​​​​​​Jimmy Butler scored 31 points, Stephen Curry added 23 and the Golden State Warriors overcame Luka Doncic's 43-point performance to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 119-109 on Tuesday night in both teams' season opener.

LeBron James missed a season opener for the first time in his 23 years in the NBA, watching from the Lakers bench. The top scorer in the history of the championship suffers from sciatica which is expected to keep him sidelined until mid-November.

Jonathan Kuminga scored 17 points as the Warriors largely eliminated the Lakers except for Doncic who scored 40 points for the 47th time in his NBA career and third time since joining the Lakers.

Doncic added 12 rebounds and nine assists in his season opener with the Lakers, but the Slovenian superstar was 2 of 10 on 3-point attempts as Los Angeles lost its season opener for the ninth time in 10 years.

Curry began his 17th season with just three 3-pointers while ceding major offensive roles to Kuminga and Buddy Hield, who made five 3-pointers.

Butler made all 16 of his free throws and Curry made a 3-pointer in the final minute for his first points of the fourth quarter.

Austin Reaves scored 13 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter after battling foul trouble.

Golden State opened the second half with a 19-4 run to open a lead that grew to 17 points. Reaves led a fourth-quarter rally, cutting the Warriors' advantage to 105-99, but Los Angeles could get no closer.

Draymond Green scored just eight points and committed an early technical foul while sitting on the bench, but his 3-pointer with 3:33 remaining stopped the Lakers' surge.

Deandre Ayton had 10 points and six rebounds in his Lakers debut, while Marcus Smart had nine points while Al Horford scored five points in his Warriors debut, hitting a 3-pointer on the first shot of his 19th NBA season.

Thunder gets off to perfect start against ex-Oklahoma star Durant

Thunder fans got everything they wanted with a ring ceremony, a championship banner unveiling and a victory over ex-Oklahoma City star Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning MVP, made two free throws with 2.3 seconds left in the second overtime to give the Thunder a 125-124 victory. It was only the sixth time an opening game went into double overtime and the first time since 2005.

Gilgeous-Alexander, last season's leading scorer, had just five points at halftime but finished with 35.

Thunder fans still haven't forgiven Durant for leaving them in 2016 to join the Golden State Warriors, their biggest rival at the time. Durant had 23 points and nine rebounds in his first game with Houston after being traded in the offseason. He was booed loudly during starter introductions before the game, and this continued for much of the game.

Durant fouled Gilgeous-Alexander with the Rockets leading 124-123 in the second overtime. The crowd cheered as Durant left the game with his sixth personal foul. Gilgeous-Alexander made both free throws for the deciding points.

Houston's Jabari Smith Jr. missed a 19-foot jumper as time expired, and the Thunder survived in the season opener for both teams.

With the score tied at 115 in the final seconds of the first overtime, Gilgeous-Alexander missed and Durant rebounded and tried to call a timeout that the Rockets didn't have.

The Thunder noticed this and attempted to alert officials, but no call was made and the game continued into the second overtime. Crew chief Zach Zarba said after the game that none of the three officials saw Durant call the timeout and therefore it was not awarded.