Life on the road has been a downer for the Celtics and Ray Allen, left, as Allen passes the Knicks’, from left, Wilson Chandler, David Lee and Al Harrington as they celebrate New York’s victory over Boston on Sunday.

AP / Kathy Willens

BOSTON –– The NBA playoffs are a full three months away, but the Boston Celtics have the postseason in the back of their minds right now.

The Celtics realize, perhaps more than any team in the NBA, how important homecourt advantage is in the playoffs.

On their journey to winning the franchise’s 17th NBA title last season, the Celtics went a combined 0-6 on the road in Atlanta and Cleveland in the playoffs, and 8-0 at home.

So they know how important gaining homecourt advantage will be in this year’s playoffs.

Winning homecourt is “the only goal right now,” Boston coach Doc Rivers said.

“You want to gain homecourt because this is where we play well,” Boston captain Paul Pierce said. “This is where we’re comfortable. We can play on the road, but homecourt was made valuable to us last year on our run. So it’s definitely important for us to try and establish homecourt. In doing that, we control our destiny.”

At 29-6, the Celtics own the best record in the Eastern Conference, and the second-best record in the NBA behind the Los Angeles Lakers (27-5). But Boston is just 1-4 in its last five road games as opposed to 18-1 inside the TD Banknorth Garden.

They have lost four of their last six games overall, with all of the losses coming on the road. The Celtics are scoring just 86.5 points per game in their last four road losses while giving up 95.5 points.

In their two wins, one on the road and one at home, the Celtics averaged 108 points while limiting their opponents to an average of 73.

Boston will look to get back on track on the road tonight against the 12-22 Charlotte Bobcats.

Winning homecourt throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs might not be decided until the Celtics visit the Cleveland Cavaliers on the final Sunday of the regular season, April 12.

The Celtics will visit Cleveland Friday in a highly anticipated matchup. The Celtics were 0-5 in Cleveland last season, so the Celtics don’t want Cleveland to secure homecourt for these playoffs.

They’ve lost their last nine games overall at the Quicken Loans Arena and Cleveland has not lost a home game this season (17-0).

But the Celtics aren’t looking toward Friday’s battle just yet. They play Charlotte tonight and Houston tomorrow.

“Obviously we want to establish homecourt and gain homecourt advantage, but the focus night in and night out is to the individual team that night,” Boston forward Kevin Garnett said.

“It’s just about taking it one game at a time and not really worrying about what Cleveland and Orlando are doing,” Pierce said.

Cleveland (27-6) and Orlando (26-8) appear to be Boston’s two biggest competitors for homecourt advantage in the East, but Detroit is coming on strong as of late, having won its last seven games to improve to 21-11, and Atlanta, winner of eight of its last 10 games, is also 21-11.

“We’re in a dogfight with Orlando and Cleveland,” Rivers said. “When we had the 19-game [winning] streak, we gained one game. We won 19 in a row and gained one game. That’s how tough it is. … The East is tough. It’s really tough.”

So what has gone wrong as of late for the Celtics on the road?

Fatigue has been a factor. Through Sunday, only one other Eastern Conference team (Milwaukee) had played 35 games.

The offense is not “flowing,” Rivers said, and Boston has been outscored in the fourth quarter in all four of its losses during this stretch.

Kendrick Perkins injured his surgically repaired left shoulder in the first quarter against the Lakers on Christmas and missed the Golden State game because of it, and Garnett injured his right calf in the third quarter on Sunday against the New York Knicks and was held to six points.

The bench hasn’t played as well on the road as of late, and neither has point guard Rajon Rondo, who sets the pace of the Celtics’ offense.

Rondo and the Boston reserves have played much better at the Garden this season.

“When you go home, it seems that a couple of different things click in for you and we have got to continue to build on the good things that we have done at home and take them on the road with [us],” Boston guard Ray Allen said.

The one constant has been Pierce, who is averaging 23.2 points over Boston’s last six outings, and that includes a 13-point effort in limited action in a 108-63 rout of Sacramento.

“We’re just going to continue to try to stack wins and get better,” Boston guard Eddie House said.

roblee@projo.com