BOSTON – Stephon Marbury came to Boston for one reason: the chance to win an NBA title.

That goal, the same goal that every NBA player dreamt of as a kid, is one thing that the two-time All-Star has never had a chance to accomplish in his career.

In fact, Marbury has never been past the first round.

“I want to win the championship, and this team right here can do it,” Marbury said.

Marbury and the Celtics will have a chance to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals Thursday night in Chicago.

The Bulls, who have only lost three times at the United Center since the All-Star break, will try as hard as they can to prevent that from happening.

“We gotta go back to Chicago and get a win,” Bulls forward John Salmons said.

Marbury is averaging 4.0 points and 2.0 assists in 12.2 minutes this postseason. He said it is difficult playing limited minutes and not being able to get in the flow of the game, but when he does get a chance to play, he tries to make the most of it.

“You are sitting there for an hour, an hour and 15 minutes, it’s tough. but we all play a part, so at the end of the day you just go in and try to do what you are provided to do,” Marbury said.

Marbury said he is not complaining about his lack of playing time.

“I love it,” Marbury said about his time with the Celtics. “It feels great. It has been the best experience as far as being back.”

Difference of opinion

Chicago coach Vinny Del Negro asked the NBA to look into Rajon Rondo’s hard foul on Brad Miller with 2.0 seconds remaining in Boston’s 106-104 overtime victory.

Miller was left all alone and had a clear path to the basket for a layup, but Rondo caught up to him and raked him across the face, preventing an easy layup. The foul drew blood, and Miller needed stitches after the game. Miller missed both free throws and the Celtics hung on.

“I was going for the ball, but Miller, I don’t know, he’s probably 290 [pounds], maybe more than that. I’m a little guy, so I had to go for the foul hard,” Rondo said. “I wasn’t trying to take a guy out or hit his head.

“But I think he took it up in his right hand and I tried to make sure he couldn’t finish. I may have hit him in the head, but I went through his arm first, trying to get to the ball and make sure he couldn’t get a 2-point shot up.

“I’m not a dirty player. I’m just coming out there and trying to give him a hard foul, nothing flagrant.”

Celtics coach Doc Rivers said that “it was a great foul by Rondo. You always talk about playoff basketball, no layups. Rondo did it on the very last play, and it won the game for us."

Del Negro disagreed: “You have to go for the basketball and [Rondo] didn’t come near the basketball, he came right across his face. … I thought it was a flagrant [foul]."

Miller also said Rondo should have been called for a flagrant foul.

The league decided not to punish Rondo, and commissioner David Stern said Wednesday that the officials were correct not to call a flagrant foul on the play in question.

Perkins taking leadership role

Rivers had nothing but praise after practice on Wednesday for center Kendrick Perkins, who had a monster game on Tuesday night with 16 points, 19 rebounds and 7 blocked shots.

“Perk played terrific [Tuesday] night, he really did,” Rivers said. “He was terrific. He had great energy. He played extremely smart and he made big plays. It was obviously needed.”

Rivers said Perkins has taken over the leadership role among the big men since Kevin Garnett got injured.

“Perk right now is Kevin,” Rivers said. “He’s taking Kevin’s role as being the defensive leader with the bigs on the floor, and he’s become a verbal leader on the floor defensively.”

No fun for Doc

The Celtics-Bulls series, which has featured an NBA postseason record three overtime games, has been great for the fans, with Games 1, 2, 4 and 5 being decided by a combined 10 points, but Rivers and Co. would just like it to be over.

“I hate this series,” Rivers said. “I’m going to look back and think that this was a hellish series, win or lose. This has been a brutal series. Not only just the intensity, but the manpower that we have or don’t have. It’s made this very, very difficult.”

Paul Pierce said: “It’s definitely one of the more physically and mentally draining series that I’ve ever been a part of.”

“It’s been crazy,” Marbury said. “It’s been long, but at the same time we are fighting through adversity as far as trying to get to the next round and those guys are trying to do the same thing we are trying to do, but I think we put ourselves in a great position.”

roblee@projo.com