THESE WERE the 16 minutes that Larry Brown barely got through. He had found his way through a forest of more than 500 games, nearly the same number of shootarounds, probably more than triple that number of practices, and now 16 minutes on a dais in the Hall of Fame Room of the First Union Center were tearing out his insides.

He had planned to meet individually with the primary beat writers who had covered his teams in this city, but all he could finally muster was a choked-up "thanks" into a microphone, and then he disappeared through the double doors of the room that led to the kitchen, where he embraced his wife, Shelly.

Just two short seasons ago, Brown embraced Shelly in the runway leading from the locker room to the playing floor after the Sixers had won a tough Game 7 from Milwaukee and advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in his Hall of Fame career. What those two very private, very tender moments have in common is that both can be seen as forerunners to the next excellent adventure.

Larry Brown exited, stage left, yesterday after two weekend meetings with team chairman Ed Snider, already thinking in terms of trying to become the first coach in league history to take a seventh franchise to the playoffs. To say that the opportunities were rolling in faster than the Pacific Ocean tide just outside the Browns' beloved Malibu home would not be an overstatement.