Wins and losses are how we judge a basketball team, but sometimes they lie. In previous columns, I’ve gone over one important way in which they can mislead us – when teams getting unusual fortune in close games end up with a record much different than their point differential would predict.

But another factor is equally deceptive in the early and middle stages of the season: the schedule. Some teams have their tough games stacked in the early part of the season, while others don’t get to the hard part until later. Thus, focusing solely on a team’s win-loss record doesn’t necessarily provide a fair picture of where it stands.

Phoenix, for instance, rolled out to a 31-4 start thanks in part to a ridiculously easy early schedule. As the opposition has become tougher, the Suns’ results haven’t been quite as impressive. Obviously, Steve Nash’s injury figured into the picture, but it’s hardly a coincidence that the Suns dropped six consecutive games just as names like “Detroit” and “San Antonio” started popping up on the schedule.

The schedule offers insight into a few other teams’ ups and downs, as well. As I’ve mentioned in previous columns, I was so unimpressed by the Knicks’ start to the season in part because their opposition was so awful. USA Today stats guru Jeff Sagarin rates the Knicks’ schedule 28th out of the NBA’s 30 teams, and that’s after the increased difficulty of their past six contests is factored in.

Unfortunately, that patch isn’t set to end any time soon. Now that they’re in a stretch of games against the league’s better teams, we’re seeing the Knicks exposed for the 32-win lottery bait that they really are. New York has dropped seven straight and the skid could easily hit 16 – yes, 16 – before the Bobcats arrive at the Garden on February 13.

Schedule strength also explains the fates of a few other teams. Let’s take a look:

MINNESOTA Yes, the T-Wolves have been disappointing, but part of the problem is that they face a winning team seemingly every night. Minnesota’s schedule has been the fifth toughest thus far, according to Sagarin. But its last 41 games will be much easier than the first 41, with no road trip longer than three games and 11 games against the league’s bottom five teams. Don’t be surprised if the T’wolves finish up with close to 50 wins amidst all the turmoil.

DALLAS Enjoy it while it lasts, because the story of the Mavs’ regular season isn’t unlikely to have a happy ending. The Mavs are 27-13 thanks to playing 23 of their first 40 games at home, but the schedule-makers backloaded their slate with a nightmarish April. Eight of their final 10 opponents have winning records, including a date with the Spurs, two games apiece with Seattle and Memphis, and road dates against the Cavaliers and Lakers. If the Mavs hope to finish with 55 wins and a top-four seed in the West, they better make sure they have at least 50 of them before April.

SACRAMENTO They’re 28-12, but the Kings are living on borrowed time and will have a tough time holding off Minnesota and Memphis in the season’s second half. Like Dallas, the Kings benefited from playing 23 of their first 40 games at home, meaning the second half will be road-heavy.

In fact, the Arco gravy train ends almost immediately. This week they travel to San Antonio, Houston and Minnesota, then move on to even tougher tests – two games against the Sonics and a date with Phoenix. After that, they get to play nine of 10 on the road, with a home date against the Hawks providing the only respite.

CHICAGO Similar to the Mavs and Kings out West, don’t be overwhelmed by the Bulls’ recent run of success in the East. Yes, there’s some genuine improvement here, and they’ll probably end up in the playoffs, but Chicago can’t play the Hawks and Bobcats every night. The Bulls haven’t played any of the top nine teams in the West since mid-December, a stretch that neatly coincides with their recent 16-4 run.

That all changes in February. Eight of their 11 games are on the road, and in a nine-game window bracketing the All-Star break, eight are against teams with winning records (the ninth, against Toronto, is no gimme either). If they still have a winning record by the end of February, I’ll be the first one on the bandwagon. Until then, I’m sitting this one out.

A common thread holds all of these teams together: a large split between the number of home and road games. That’s no accident. Home-court advantage in basketball is much more important than in baseball or hockey. As a result, NBA teams tend to win most of their home games (about 61% this year) and drop most of their road games.

With that in mind, there’s a simple formula we can use to determine how teams are faring relative to their schedule – something I call “plus-minus.” Basically, every time a team wins a road game, I give them a “+1,” but every time they lose at home, I give them a “-1.” By subtracting road wins from home losses, we can see how teams are doing against par, so to speak.

As you can see by looking at the chart comprising the top teams in the East, the Knicks sink to the bottom of the Atlantic Division when we use plusminus. Only Charlotte and Atlanta fare worse in this comparison.

Note also the Bulls. Their 21-19 mark looks less impressive when you weigh it against their 23 home games; teams like Philadelphia and Indiana have accomplished more when you take their road-heavy schedules into account. Sagarin rates the Sixers’ schedule the 7th-most difficult so far, which is inconceivably difficult for a team in the Atlantic Division.

A similar story emerges in the West, where the T’wolves fare much better than their record would indicate in this comparison. On the other hand, the two L.A. teams sink faster than an Internet stock, as both have benefited from playing seven more games at home than on the road.

Meanwhile, Portland’s struggles don’t seem quite as serious when factoring their 23 road games. Given the Blazers’ history of second-half surges and a friendlier forthcoming schedule, don’t count them out of a playoff run just yet.

The big picture here is that the standings at the midpoint of the season often give an imprecise indicator of where the teams really stand, because schedule difficulty isn’t evenly distributed over the season. The Knicks and their fans are learning that painful lesson right now, but for a few other teams, the agony is still to come.