MILWAUKEE — Giannis Antetokounmpo recorded his second triple-double in the last week, and Jabari Parker scored a career-high 36 points as the Milwaukee Bucks snapped a two-game losing streak with a 128-121 victory over the Houston Rockets at the Bradley Center.
Antetokounmpo finished with 18 points, 17 rebounds and 11 assists — the last two coming on 3-pointers by shooting guard Jerryd Bayless — to help the Bucks break the game open down the stretch.
Bayless, a guard making his return after battling a knee injury for the last two weeks, finished with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Shooting guard Khris Middleton hit seven of 11 shots and all 15 of his free throws for 30 points.
Parker had been red hot since the All-Star break, averaging 20.2 points and 8.8 rebounds in his previous four games. He kept the pace early Monday, scoring 12 of his 20 first-half points in the opening quarter while the Bucks shot just over 68 percent from the field.
Center Dwight Howard scored 30 to pace Houston, which also got 26 from guard James Harden and 20 from forward Trevor Ariza.
Ariza and Harden brought the Rockets back in the second quarter. Each went 4-for-4 from the field and Houston outscored Milwaukee 38-24 over the final 9:27 of the half to cut the deficit to one at halftime.
Harden sent the game into the fourth quarter tied at 92, beating the buzzer with long 3-pointer.
Houston trailed 125-112 after the late 3-pointers by Bayless with 2:29 but forced turnovers on Milwaukee’s next five possessions. The defensive surge fueled a 9-0 run that made it a 125-121 game with under a minute to play.
NOTES: Houston recalled F Sam Dekker from Rio Grande of the D-League, but he didn’t play Monday. Dekker, the Rockets’ first-round pick, played only six minutes this season before sustaining a back injury that eventually required surgery. Dekker, a native of nearby Sheboygan, Wis., played for the University of Wisconsin, where he led the Badgers to back-to-back Final Four appearances. … With F Steve Novak sidelined for the rest of the season because of a sprained left MCL, Milwaukee recalled F Damien Inglis from Westchester of the D-League, where he averaged 9.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.7 assists. Inglis has appeared in eight games with the Bucks this season, averaging 1.0 points and 1.1 rebounds. … The Bucks also got G Jerryd Bayless back Monday. He had been sidelined due to a knee injury since Feb. 11.