Cliché me.

“We’re going to take it one game at a time,” Storm coach Brian Agler said.

“It’s going to be a collective effort,” Sue Bird said.

Well, they have no choice in either instance. Reality deems it so.

Another part of reality is the departure of Lauren Jackson. The Storm will be without the 2007 MVP and Defensive Player of the Year for the next five games, starting this afternoon in Indiana. Jackson is heading home to train with Australia’s Olympic team.

Changes in the starting five will be opponent-dependent, according to Agler.

“We haven’t really been thinking about this, though in the back of my mind I haven’t really been looking forward to this day,” Agler said last Saturday.

Here’s the good: The Storm has won six consecutive games; appears over early-season inconsistencies; is undefeated against all five coming opponents; and, Bird is playing, sorry, out of her tree.

On a team full of name recognition, it is still the point guard from Connecticut who is introduced last at home. A decibel reading would clarify, but Bird seems to be the favorite of the fans if the qualification is simply sound.

Her coach likes her, too.

“I don’t know that there is a better point guard in the world,” he said.

Such a player would seem to help the Storm handle the next five games, but Bird assures it needs to be more than her.

“No one is going to come out and replace Lauren Jackson,” Bird said.

Recently hot, Bird is shooting a smidge under 50 percent the last five games. Last Saturday she took a season high 19 shots, an emphatic increase in aggression. She’s hovering near career highs in average points (13.0, trailing the 14.4 in her rookie year of 2002) and assists (6.1, trailing the 6.5 she handed out in 2003). After putting up enough early season bricks that Habitat for Humanity called her to be a spokesperson, Bird has hiked her field-goal percentage to 41.

In the coming five, it’s not who physically replaces Jackson, but a question of Bird maintaining her recent stellar play.

“Everybody’s going to have to do a little more,” Bird said. In her case, it will have to be more of the same.