Hours ahead of Monday’s Game 1 in Boston, Sixers coach Doc Rivers ended his pregame press conference with a tribute to late Celtics vice president of public relations Heather Walker.

Walker died last Wednesday after a two-year battle with a rare form of brain cancer. She was diagnosed in July 2021 and later started the Heather Walker Fund for Glioblastoma Research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where she was treated. She was 52 years old.

After Walker joined the organization in 2006, she worked closely with Rivers over the last seven years of his tenure in Boston. Rivers grew teary Monday as reflected on their time together.

“You know, when Heather first came, I didn’t know what to make of her when she first came. She was so strong and early on we’d bump heads, like, ‘No, this is how we do this,’ because I was the old-school PR thought, and she was bringing in the new way. And she was right, I hate to say. But she was just terrific,” he said.

“I had a chance to text back and forth with her probably about three weeks ago. … There’s just so many people that work that you have a chance to touch, and those people have a chance to touch you. It’s just sad when you lose one so young and so gifted. And really, like a lot of people, you don’t ever give a chance to say thank you.”

Walker is survived by her husband, Stephen, and two daughters, Samantha and Taylor.