MILWAUKEE -- A few hours after the trade deadline had passed quietly for the Milwaukee Bucks, head coach Jason Kidd explained to reporters that forwards Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker were "in a vault;" untouchable cornerstones of the franchise's rebuilding effort.

Monday night, they showed why.

Parker scored a career-high 36 points while Antetokounmpo recorded his second double in a one-week span to lead the Bucks to a 128-121 victory over the Houston Rockets at the Bradley Center.

"They're both very talented players," said reserve guard Jerryd Bayless, who scored 18 points in his first action since Feb. 11. "For both of them, the sky is the limit. They have the tools to be something special."

After picking up his first career triple-double last Monday night against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, Antetokounmpo hit 7 of 12 shots for 18 points, grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds to go along with 11 assists, four steals and a pair of blocked shots in 42 minutes of work.

Parker, meanwhile, made 16 of 25 including his only 3-point attempt, and also added four rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals. In six games since the All-Star break, Parker is averaging 22.8 points and 8.0 rebounds.

"You couldn't tell he ever had an injury," Kidd said. "You could see his confidence after the All-Star trip to Toronto. I think that gave him a lot of confidence."

The young frontcourt tandem got plenty of help, too. Shooting guard Khris Middleton went 7-for-11 from the field and 15-for-15 from the free-throw line to finish with 30 points while center Greg Monroe added 10 off the bench.

The Bucks also got 18 from reserve guard Jerryd Bayless, who returned to action for the first time since Feb. 11 and sank five 3-pointers -- two of them in the final quarter as the Bucks finally pulled away.

"He's a pro," Kidd said. "He's been out for a little bit, unfortunately for us because he's had a heck of a year shooting the ball and you saw that again tonight."

Parker set 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.

"That's his game," Rockets forward James Harden said. "He's aggressive."

Harden brought the Rockets back in the second quarter, hitting all four of his shots, including a 3-pointer, for 10 of his 26 points. Forward Trevor Ariza went 4-for-4 from the field, too, for 13 as the Rockets got within a point heading into half time.

Harden sent the game into the fourth quarter tied at 92, beating the buzzer with long 3-pointer and took a 102-101 lead when forward Josh Smith connected on a 3-pointer with 8:46 to play.

But Milwaukee answered with a 24-8 run that made it a 125-112 game after the late 3-pointers by Bayless with 2:29 remaining.

Houston forced turnovers on Milwaukee's next five possessions, fueling a 9-0 run that made it a 125-121 game with under a minute to play, but a five-second call on an inbounds play gave the ball back to the Bucks, who went 3-of-4 from the line to close it out.

"The only way you win in this league is if you're able to get stops," Ariza said. "We can score the ball, we all know that, but the defensive end of the floor, that's where our problem is. There's no excuse for giving up (128) points."

The Rockets (29-31) have lost two in a row but hold a half-game lead over Utah for the final playoff spot in the West.

Milwaukee, meanwhile, snapped a two-game losing streak but at 25-25, remain six games behind the Pacers for the eighth and final spot in the East.

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.