Giannis Antetokounmpo had 26 points and 17 rebounds, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the Bucks’ career rebounding leader, and Damian Lillard scored 39 points in Milwaukee’s 128-119 victory over the Houston Rockets on Sunday night.

Antetokounmpo’s highest rebounding total of the season allowed him to pass Abdul-Jabbar after he had moved past the Hall of Famer for the team’s scoring record during the 2021-22 season. He is also the Bucks’ career leader in assists, joining Michael Jordan (Chicago), LeBron James (Cleveland) and Kevin Garnett (Minnesota) as the only players to lead a franchise in all three categories.

“It’s a big compliment,” Antetokounmpo said. “I don’t think anybody assumed that the skinny kid from Greece that was drafted and supposed to play in the G-League would be in position to break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record. I know for sure there’s going to be someone who is going to come along in time and break all of the records that Kareem set, Oscar Robertson, Marques Johnson, myself, Khris (Middleton).”

Middleton scored 14 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter as the Bucks finally pulled away. Middleton sank a 3-pointer to give the Bucks a 112-106 lead with 5:26 left, and a three-point play by Antetokounmpo made it 118-111 with 3:44 remaining.

“Khris does this all the time, where he just settles us down where we need a basket and he goes and gets us a bucket,” Bucks coach Adrian Griffin said. “Sometimes he scores and sometimes it’s an assist, but the fourth quarter is usually when Khris is at his best.”

Brook Lopez added 18 points for the Bucks (19-7) and Bobby Portis had 11 off the bench.

Middleton, who joined the Bucks in a trade in 2013, the same year Antetokounmpo was drafted, laughed when asked if he thought then that his teammate would have all these franchise marks.