The Washington Wizards became the first team to lose to the Toronto Raptors in a game one since 2012 as the Canadian-based outfit ended a long and embarrassing streak.

But despite the defeat, Wizards star John Wall remains confident that they can overcome their 1-0 deficit as he believes they're yet to play their best basketball.

Washington kept the game close up until the fourth quarter until they missed big shots down the stretch and were thwarted by some stellar defence by the Raptors which saw them claim a 114-106 win at Air Canada Centre.

Wall has only been back in the lineup for a couple of weeks after missing two months because of knee surgery.

The All-Star is still a little rusty and had a horrible shooting display in game one where he went just 6-of-20 from the field.

But despite his shooting woes, he believes he can still impact the series even if he's not at 100 percent.

"I think I am there [speed-wise but] just having explosion, and being very explosive and those types of things, that is what I am still working on, to get my legs back underneath me," Wall said, per ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk.

"But other than that, just from me being out there and to do the things that I am doing without being at 100 percent shows what type of player I am."

Overall, the point guard still put up strong numbers as he ended the game with 23 points, 15 assists, four steals and two blocks.

However, he was limited to one assist and five points while shooting 1-for-5 in the fourth quarter, as well as committing five turnovers.

This left him frustrated after the game and he's expecting to see an improvement in game two.

"We feel like we didn't even play our best basketball," Wall said. "We didn't shoot the ball well from three, they shot over 50 percent and we still gave ourselves a chance to win."

Wall's backcourt partner Bradley Beal scored just two of his 19 points in the fourth and the Wizards will need their All-Star duo to be more effective late in the game if they are to have any chance of progressing.

On paper, Washington should've finished much higher than eighth in the east with the talent they have on their team but this matchup with the number one seeded Raptors gives them an opportunity to remind everybody what they can do.

Upsetting the Eastern Conference favourites will send out a strong message but they'll have to prove they're up to the task in game two on Tuesday night.

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