Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic was the best player on the floor Tuesday night in their NBA season opener, but the Golden State Warriors were the better team.

Doncic scored 43 points, but Jimmy Butler and Stephen Curry both had big games for Golden State, and they won on the road 119-109 at crypto.com Arena on the first night of the NBA season.

Butler, who came over to Golden State in a trade from Miami last season, scored 31 points and made all 16 free throw attempts. Curry had 23 points, and made all eight of his free throws as well.

The Lakers played without LeBron James, who is out with a back injury. That left Doncic to carry the load. Austin Reeves helped, scoring 26 points, but no one else scored more than 10 points. The Lakers shot just 8-for-32 from three-point range.

It wasn't the start they were looking for on their home court.

“It’s hard to forget about LeBron, (but) the reality is, when you’re focused on the group that you have, you’ve got to make the group work,” Lakers coach JJ Redick told reporters afterward. “Sometimes you can just be like, ‘Oh my God, we’re gonna get LeBron back at some point.’

"Like it’s awesome, but you are focused. I’ll be honest with you, I did have one moment in that first half when we had a few possessions when we couldn’t score against the zone and I thought, ‘It’d be great to have LeBron.' ” 

Golden State will have its home opener in San Francisco on Thursday night against the Denver Nuggets. The game starts at 10 p.m. ET, and will be nationally televised on ESPN. The Lakers are back home again on Friday night, hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves. That's an Amazon Prime Video game.

Tuesday's NBA results

Oklahoma City Thunder 125, Houston Rockets 124
Golden State Warriors 119, Los Angeles Lakers 109

Wednesday's NBA schedule

Cleveland Cavaliers at New York Knicks, 7 p.m. ET. National TV: ESPN 
Brooklyn Nets at Charlotte Hornets, 7 p.m. ET
Miami Heat at Orlando Magic, 7 p.m. ET

Toronto Raptors at Atlanta Hawks, 7:30 p.m. ET
Philadelphia 76ers at Boston Celtics, 7:30 p.m. ET

New Orleans Pelicans at Memphis Grizzlies, 8 p.m. ET
Washington Wizards at Milwaukee Bucks, 8 p.m. ET

Los Angeles Clippers at Utah Jazz, 9 p.m. ET

San Antonio Spurs at Dallas Mavericks, 9:30 p.m. ET  National TV: ESPN 

Sacramento Kings at Phoenix Suns, 10 p.m. ET
Minnesota Timberwolves at Portland Trail Blazers, 10 p.m. ET

Thursday's NBA schedule

Oklahoma City Thunder at Indiana Pacers, 7:30 p.m. ET. National TV: ESPN 
Denver Nuggets at Golden State Warriors, 10 p.m. ET. National TV: ESPN